How do you choose between containers and VMs for your OS deployment?

1 What are containers and VMs?

Containers and VMs are both methods of isolating and running multiple instances of an application or service on a single physical machine. However, they differ in how they interact with the underlying OS and hardware. Containers share the same OS kernel and resources as the host machine, but have their own libraries, dependencies, and configuration files. VMs, on the other hand, run on a hypervisor, which is a software layer that creates and manages virtual machines that have their own OS, drivers, and resources.

2 Why use containers?

Containers are lightweight, fast, and portable. They can be easily created, deployed, and scaled across different platforms and environments. Containers also offer a high level of consistency and compatibility, as they run the same way regardless of where they are hosted. Containers are ideal for microservices, cloud-native, and DevOps applications, as they enable rapid development, testing, and delivery of modular and independent components.

3 Why use VMs?

VMs are more secure, flexible, and robust. They provide a strong isolation and protection from the host machine and other VMs, as they have their own OS and resources. VMs can also run different OS and applications that are not compatible with the host OS or containers. VMs are suitable for legacy, complex, and heterogeneous applications, as they can handle diverse and changing requirements and dependencies.

4 How to compare containers and VMs?

When deciding between containers and VMs, there is no definitive answer as it depends on the use case, goals, and constraints. However, they can be compared based on performance, security, scalability, and portability. Containers have lower overhead and faster startup and shutdown times than VMs, but VMs may have better performance for CPU-intensive and memory-intensive applications. VMs offer more security and isolation than containers, but containers can implement security measures to limit their access and privileges. Containers are more scalable than VMs, as they can be easily created, destroyed, and replicated across different nodes and clusters. Containers are also more portable than VMs, as they can run on any platform and environment that supports the container runtime and the host OS.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?