How to control the excessive use of ram by SQL Server?

What kind of server should I buy for a new company?

• Hello everyone, I've  been tasked with taking care of the IT side of a new company that we're  starting. The company is a records storage company, which means that we  store boxes with documents, and keep the metadata and possibly scanned  copies in a database on a server. Clients can also access their data  through a web portal. For this, we use specialized records management  software that requires Microsoft SQL Server. I  know a thing or two about basic small company IT, but I am bit a lost  here. The way I thought about it was to just buy 1 server, and run  everything on there (records management software, web interface,  DNS/DHCP services for the network, etc.). Question 1: is it ok to do everything on one server, or is it better to segregate these things? Question 2: what kind of specs would I be looking at? My software provider tells me 8-16 gb ram, dual core 2.0 ghz or higher, and microsoft server 2012 and microsoft sql 2012. However, that is kind of a wide spectrum..... I was thinking of using the cloud for backups. I have also been looking at running the application in the cloud, but was a bit shocked by the prices. With those specs, an instance would cost between $500-$1000 per month, which just doesn't really make sense financially it seems. I am quite new to this, and would love to hear your thoughts. Please ask for clarifications if necessary.

• Answer:

  I would recommend keeping the SQL separate from your DHCP but you can accomplish this on one machine by using VMWare. A third virtual server can be your email/Exchange host. You'll need an OS license for each virtual machine but you will save in hardware costs and power consumption/cooling needs/cabinet space by using one physical machine on which may reside multiple virtual machines running various OSes. For backup, you will want both cloud and local backups.