Planning is the first stage all developers embark on - what to do, how to do it or the best way to do it. Proper planning is key in determining that all aspects of the application are architected correctly and efficiently, and the right direction is chosen. Once this is established, the actual development begins to take place. From this point on you'll begin to deal with the application at all levels and its individual components, and how each requires individual optimization. Thus as a whole it becomes one solid, cohesive application.

Good robust, application architecture insists on it being functional, responsive, secure and user friendly. I'll briefly point out that when presenting an finished application, it must be faultless. People like a speedy application with complementing visually appealing elements. Most users will never fully appreciate all the sophistication it took behind the scenes to make the application work, they initially focus on its design and layout. Although, I won't demonstrate web site and graphics design, I felt it a point needing attention, even thought this article will not demonstrate such. So keep this in mind, that for a fully robust, cohesive application, design and back end do go hand-in-hand, not productively but ultimately. So all parts must be on equal level in making it an cohesive application. Again, even thought this article is really more for .NET project architects, it's a fact that some developers out there simply do it all. For some more info of project planning read - Web Application Development - A Guide to Success.

That aside, prior to dealing with the three archetypal levels inherent to "N-Tier," we'll be discussing some conventional information regarding application and server security. After that, we'll dive right into offering general .NET Best Practices. Then move on to error handling, and further deal with some common .NET errors you may encounter, and finally look into performance testing.

As a final note, .NET's documentation offers an absolutely exhaustive collection of information which is the reason why you'll notice numerous links throughout this article directing you to more in-depth information where applicable and necessary.

Now let's get started with .NET security, and rest assured that our application is being built on a secured platform, and that all security precautions were taken and are intact.