What is exactly a dedicated server?

This is a question that is often asked to our technical support by many customers. In fact, of the time of the virtualization, with all the Cloud trend, adjectives qualifying servers continue to grow (dedicated servers, shared, virtual or ecological…) and many of our users have difficulty to see the differences between each servers. A server is a computer that performs operations at the request of other computers. For example, an HTTP server provides Web pages to a browser request. The server is a function assigned to a machine ...

The dedicated server(or dedicated machine) opposes the shared server.
Concerning a dedicated server, all the resources available on the machine are allocated to the same customer, allowing to have all the power of the machine.
On a shared server, several customers divide the resources on the same machine.

Now, shared or dedicated server may be physical or virtual, it gets complicated ...
Not so finally, a physical server indicates that the operating system is installed on the machine, applications which are settling over (website, email, business software, etc).
Within a virtual server, an hypervisor (virtualization software such as Microsoft Hyper-V) is installed on the machine, this software then allows you to create multiple virtual servers that use the resources of the machine.

It is still not clear?
A metaphor should allow you to see definitely clearer. Suppose a server is a transport... A dedicated server would be a limousine, a machine used by only one person. A shared server would be a bus, therefore a machine for the transport of several person simultaneously. A virtual server, and quite simply a transport truck’s car, the truck is the machine and cars are the servers. ""