Understanding the Difference Between Virtual Machines and Containers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyNBf1sqdBQ

What is the traditional way that companies operated before VMs and containers?

Companies ran one application on one server, often leading to under-utilization of server capacity.

Why did companies run only one application per server in the traditional setup?

Operating systems like Linux and Windows couldn't securely run multiple applications on a single server.

What problem did virtual machines (VMs) solve?

VMs allowed multiple applications to run on a single server, optimizing hardware use and reducing the need for additional servers.

How do virtual machines work?

VMs simulate hardware and software, allowing multiple virtual servers, each with its own operating system, to run on one physical server.

What is a hypervisor, and what role does it play in virtualization?

A hypervisor is software that allows one machine to run multiple virtual machines by controlling the allocation of hardware resources.

Name some common hypervisors used for running virtual machines.

VMware ESXi, Citrix XenServer, and Microsoft Hyper-V.

What are the drawbacks of using virtual machines?

VMs consume a lot of disk space, RAM, and CPU power, and they are slow to start up.

What is a Container?

A container is an application packaged with all its dependencies, allowing it to run consistently across different computing environments.

How are containers different from virtual machines?

Containers only contain the application and its dependencies, sharing the underlying operating system, making them lighter and faster than VMs.

What is Docker, and why is it important?

Docker is the leading software for creating, managing, and running containers, making applications highly portable and efficient.

What is the major difference between how VMs and containers utilize an operating system?

VMs contain their own operating system, while containers share the underlying OS of the host server.

What are some advantages of containers over virtual machines?

Containers are lightweight, have smaller file sizes, consume less RAM and CPU power, and are much faster to start up.

What is a container engine, and what does it do?

A container engine unpacks the container files and hands them off to the operating system's kernel for execution.

What is a key disadvantage of containers compared to VMs?

Containers must match the operating system of the host server, whereas VMs can run any OS regardless of the host.

Why are containers considered ultra-portable?

Because container files are much smaller than VM files, making them easier to move across different environments.

What happens to containers if the underlying server's operating system crashes?

All containers running on that server will go down since they share the underlying OS.

How do some organizations maximize productivity using both VMs and containers?

They run VMs on a server and then run containers within those VMs, leveraging the strengths of both technologies.

What is the future outlook for Docker containers?

Docker containers are seen as the future due to their size, portability, and speed advantages over VMs.