Wrote a series of intro to mining articles that might help you as well as initial build guides depending on your budget.  These may be able to help point you in the right direction for some of your questions.

https://theminerhub.com/mining/newbie-guide-building-6-card-crypto-currency-mining-rig-part-1-decision-time/

https://theminerhub.com/mining/mining-pool-basics/

https://theminerhub.com/mining/building-a-mining-rig-part-2-hardware/

https://theminerhub.com/mining/newbie-guide-part-3-amd-edition/