There are many utilities that are very helpful for running a persistent World. This is a brief overview.
NWNX[]
Currently called NWNX4, NWNX allows connecting a module to a database, where persistent information can be stored. Official hooks were added to NWN2 by the developers to support this utility.
Kivinen's perl tools[]
The Kiniven's Perl Tools allow web admins to do linked websites that can be programmed to show players game information, as well as do automated tasked. The remap tool is very useful when a 2da file gets renumbered and you have to adjust the numbers inside the modules areas to match.
http://www.kivinen.iki.fi/nwn/
Toolset Plugins[]
Using the toolset is a major part of running a persistent world.
SinPlugin http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=NWN2PlugIns.Detail&id=12 Makes navigation easy among lots of other things
YATT http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Nwn2plugins.Detail&id=14 For making areas based on grayscale maps
Powerbar Plugin http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=NWN2PlugIns.Detail&id=34
RePlug - old plugins re-released by tani http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=NWN2PlugIns.Detail&id=47
NWN2Mapper http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=NWN2PlugIns.Detail&id=62 Allows painting an area tileset like you do on graph paper
NWN1 area tiles converter http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=NWN2PlugIns.Detail&id=60 Imports tileset underground areas and contents from old nwn1 modules
Watermill - allows better working with water http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=NWN2PlugIns.Detail&id=45
Terracoppa - copying and rotating parts of areas from place to place http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=NWN2PlugIns.Detail&id=25
Vordan's Shop Wizard v1.3h http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=NWN2PlugIns.Detail&id=5
Vordan's Load Screen Viewer v1.6a http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=NWN2PlugIns.Detail&id=17
The Grinning Fool's Creature Creation Wizard http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=NWN2PlugIns.Detail&id=35
The Grinning Fool's Usability Tools Plugin http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=NWN2PlugIns.Detail&id=46
Weather Changer - Powerbar does this as well http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=NWN2PlugIns.Detail&id=41
SpellPlug, Spelling and Grammer Checker http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=NWN2PlugIns.Detail&id=7