title: SQL Server 2005 / 2008 - multiple filegroups?
body: <p>I'm a developer at heart - but every now and then, a customer doesn't have a decent DBA to deal with these issues, so I'm called in to decide....</p>
  
  <p>What are your strategies / best practices when it comes to dealing with a reasonably sized SQL Server database (anything larger than Northwind or AdventureWorks) - do you use multiple filegroups? If so: how many? And why?</p>
  
  <p>What are your criteria to decide when to move away from the "one filegroup for everything" approach:</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>database size?</li>
  <li>database complexity?</li>
  <li>availability / reliability requirements?</li>
  <li>what else?</li>
  </ul>
  
  <p>If you use multiple file groups, how many do you use? One for data, one for index, one for log? Several (how many) for data? What are your reasons for your choice - <em>why</em> do you use that exact number of filegroups :-) </p>