There is no inherent limit on the size of the network that can be drawn with the NETDRAW procedure. Naturally, a sufficient amount of core memory must be available in order to invoke and initialize the SAS system. Furthermore, the amount of memory required depends on the mode of invocation of the procedure. As far as possible, the procedure attempts to store all the data in core memory. However, if the problem is too large to fit in core memory, the procedure resorts to the use of utility data sets and swaps between core memory and utility data sets as necessary.

The storage requirement for the data area required by the procedure is proportional to the number of nodes and arcs in the network. The memory required is further increased by the use of the DP option in the ACTNET statement. Recall that this option requests the use of a dynamic programming algorithm to route the arcs between the nodes, and such algorithms tend to grow exponentially with the size of the problem being solved.