Virtual Machine vs Containers¶
SNo. |
Virtual Machines(VM) |
Containers |
|---|---|---|
1 |
VM is a piece of software that allows you to install other software inside of it so you control it virtually as opposed to installing the software directly on the computer. |
While a container is software that allows different functionalities of an application independently. |
2. |
Applications running on a VM system, or hypervisor, can run different OS. |
While applications running in a container environment share a single OS. |
3. |
VM virtualizes the computer system, meaning its hardware. |
While containers virtualize the operating system, or the software only. |
4. |
VM size is very large, generally in gigabytes. |
While the size of the container is very light, generally a few hundred megabytes, though it may vary as per use. |
5. |
VM takes longer to run than containers, the exact time depending on the underlying hardware. |
While containers take far less time to run. |
6. |
VM uses a lot of system memory. |
While containers require very less memory. |
7. |
VM is more secure, as the underlying hardware isn’t shared between processes. |
While containers are less secure, as the virtualization is software-based, and memory is shared. |
8. |
VMs are useful when we require all of the OS resources to run various applications. |
While containers are useful when we are required to maximize the running applications using minimal servers. |
9. |
Examples of Type 1 hypervisors are KVM, Xen, and VMware. Virtualbox is a Type 2 hypervisor |
Examples of containers are RancherOS, PhotonOS, and Containers by Docker. |