OS X Server 3.0 new setup -- best practices?

Alright, here's what I'm after.

I'm setting up a completely new OS X Server 3.0 environment. It's on a fairly new (1.5 year old) Mac Mini, plenty of RAM and disk space, etc. This server will ONLY be used interally. It will have a private IP address such as 192.168.1.205 which will be outside of my DHCP server's range (192.168.1.10 to .199) to prevent any IP conflicts.

I am using Apple's Thuderbolt-to-Ethernet dongle for the primary network connection. The built-in NIC will be used strictly for a direct iSCSI connection to a brand new Drobo b800i storage device.

This machine will provide the following services, rougly in order of importance:

1. A Time Machine backup server for about 50 Macs running Maverics.

1a. Those networked Macs will authenticate individually to this computer for the Time Machine service

1b. This Server will get it's directory information from my primary server via LDAP/Open Directory

2. Caching server for the same network of computers

3. Serve a NetInstall image which is used to set up new computers when a new employee arrives

4. Maybe calendaring and contacts service, still considering that as a possibility

Can anyone tell me the recommended "best practices" for setting this up from scratch? I've done it twice so far and have faced problems each time. My most frequent problem, once it's set up and running, is with Time Machine Server. With nearly 100 percent consistency, when I get Time Machine Server set up and running, I can't administer it. After a few days, I'll try to look at it via the Server app. About half the time, there'll be the expected green dot by "Time Machine" indicating it is running and other times it won't be there. Regardless, when I click on Time Machine, I almost always get a blank screen simply saying "Loading." On rare occasion I'll get this:

Error Reading Settings

Service functionality and administration may be affected.

Click Continue to administer this service.

Code: 0

Either way, sometimes if I wait long enough, I'll be able to see the Time Machine server setup, but not every time. When I am able to see it, I'll have usability for a few minutes and then it kicks back to "Loading."

I do see this apparently relevant entry in the logs as seen by Console.app (happens every time I see the Loading screen):

servermgrd: [71811] error in getAndLockContext: flock(servermgr_timemachine) FATAL time out

servermgrd: [71811] process will force-quit to avoid deadlock

com.apple.launchd: (com.apple.servermgrd[72081]) Exited with code: 1

If I fire up Terminal and run "sudo serveradmin fullstatus timemachine" it'll take as long as a minute or more and finally come back with:

timemachine:command = "getState"

timemachine:state = "RUNNING"

I've tried to do some digging on these issues and have been greeted with almost nothing to go on. I've seen some rumblings about DNS settings, and here's what that looks like:

sudo changeip -checkhostname

Primary address = 192.168.1.205

Current HostName = Time-Machine-Server.local

The DNS hostname is not available, please repair DNS and re-run this tool.

dirserv:success = "success"

If DNS is a problem, I'm at a loss how to fix it. I'm not going to have a hostname because this isn't on a public network.

I have similar issues with Caching, NetInstall, etc.

So clearly I'm doing something wrong. I'm not upgrading, again, this is an entirely clean install. I'm about ready to blow it away and start fresh again, but before I do, I'd greatly appreciate any insight from others on some "best practices" or an ordered list on the best way to get this thing up and running smoothy and reliably.