SQLSERVR.EXE consuming alot memory

I have windows 2k terminal server with sql server 7.o with sp4 installed on it. The problem is that as soon as I start sqlservr.exe service, it starts capturing memory. Basically the process starts with 8-10 MB RAM eventually ending up capturing 200-215 MB.

I have dynamially allocated memory to server in range of 0-152 and still it uses more than this limit.

But after some time of running sqlservr.exe, suddenly at no particular interval something happens and sqlservr.exe releases 70-80% of memory it has acquired. Then again it starts the process of capturing memory.

Please help me out with this problem.
tapman

While this is not part of your question, you really shouldn't run SQL Server and Terminal Services (other than the admin option) on the same server. Both of these apps are resource hungry and performance of both apps will greatly suffer.

The "maximum" setting used when memory is set to dynamic is a target, not an absolute setting. If SQL Server needs more memory for optimum performance, it will take what it can get (within built-in limitations). In your case, it looks like SQL Server needs it. If you want an absolute maximum, then you need to use the fixed memory setting. But if you do this, and it is less than SQL Server needs, this means that SQL Server's performance will not be optimized.

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