You point HA to your database in the recorder configuration.
This is my recorder config. My db is obviously not on a separate machine but the only thing that will change is the url that points to the db, which will depend on the db you are using.
recorder:
db_url: mysql://homeassistant:XXXXXXXXX@core-mariadb/homeassistant?charset=utf8
purge_keep_days: 7
include:
domains:
- alarm_control_panel
- person
etc. etc.
A better question is how many entities are you recording the history for? If you don’t need the history for an entity to include in the logbook or history graph or future reference by a sensor or template or something they why are you recording it? Do you really need to know what the sun elevation was at 3:15 pm 11 days ago?
If you have an entity that is changing state every second and the history for that entity is on then the database is making an entry every second (not considering any db write caching).
If you have the processing power and storage space to record everything then go for it but on an an RPi and an SD card with anything but the most basic configuration, you need to be selective in what history you record for both system performance and SD card reliability. You also need a fast high quality SD card.