total records in item table

Mark,

The program is storing some of your settings and information in a local database, if you have configured it that way. The reason is that if your server were to go down, you still have limited functionality to continue making sales. When the server comes back up, the information stored on the local drive is uploaded to the server and you continue on your way, working from the server's database.

The database is not limited by the number of items, its by the size of the database. 2 gig is the limit for MSDE

Mark,

OK, so you are not talking about a database on the local machine, you are talking about a memory cache. Sorry about that, I thought you were speaking about the "Offline" feature of RMS.

Yes, the program loads a memorized "view" at the local machine for the records for better performance instead of constantly requesting the database sent across the network from the server.

If you are loading that many records, I would be adding a bunch of RAM into the machines (2 gig minimum)and probably updating your database from MSDE to the full blown version of SQL Server 2000.

Remember these numbers are what MSDE/SQL can use, add more for the operating system too.

MSDE supports up to 2 gig of RAM and two processors.

SQL Server supports up to 32 gig of RAM and more than 4 processors.

These numbers change with the new SQL Server 2005 versions, but RMS does not officially support 2005 yet.

I would be upping both ends, server & client, with more RAM.

Hell, the machine I'm typing on has 2 gig and I was how thinking slow it is!

Check the "Always use Find for Items" option in SO Manager, File/Configuration/Options/Item Options.

The Item List will not be displayed - you will get the Find window instead. This should be much faster for a million items.

There are also third party item selection tools out there that may offer a better look & feel than the find window but still offer better performance than the item list. Check out Digital Retail Solutions S.W.A.T. Search for example - not sure how it will do on performance, but it's a search based tool, so I would expect it to do better than the standard Item List.