Total Memory capped far below available memory We are testing out a new install of SQL Server 2012 on a virtual server and the memory allocated to SQL Server seems to be capped around 16 GB even though much more is available. What could cause this?

I've tried bumping up the SQL minimum server memory setting, but the change had no effect. I've listed some of the server details below. 

SQL Server 2012 Enterprise
Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise x64
29.93 GHz (8 processors)
77 GB RAM
Min Server Memory: 48 GB
Max Server Memory: 56 GB
Database size: 44 GB


PerfMon info:

Working Set: ~17 GB
Page life expectency: ~7,500
Target Server Memory: ~73 GB
Total Server Memory: ~15.7 GB
SQL Server is not guaranteed to allocate the min server memory. If the load on the server never needs the minimum SQL Server will work with less - BOL http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms178067.aspx

As long as your configurations allow for the use of all memory you have allocated (they do), SQL Server will use what it needs, and generally no more. Since you are running a VM I would make sure you allocate 10% for the OS, remove the minimum as it can cause performance problems and let it run. If your CPU is pegged at 100%, queries are slow, and SQL Server is not allocating all of its available memory then it would be time to further troubleshoot.