This is by no means an all-inclusive list of SQL Server best practices. Instead, it's simply a collection of best practices I've gathered over the years. If you have any comments/suggestions, feel free to post them. I'd love to hear other ways to improve SQL Server-based applications.
Updated Aug 31, 2005
Overview
Before delving into each individual best practice, you must realize that several best practices may actually contradict each other. The reason for this is because each one exists for a specific purpose. Implementing design goals tends to lead to sacrifices in other areas. For instance, a rapid development effort will most likely lessen performance of an application. These goals aren't always mutually exclusive, so I will attempt to describe the pros and cons of each one as well as break them out into logical groups.
Abstraction
[ Overview ]
Availability
[ Overview ]
Modularization
[ Overview ]
Performance
[ Overview ]
Reliability
[ Overview ]
Helpful Links
I will be adding helpful links here as I come across them.