Containers/Instances for Dummies

Apps and Virtualization
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1

I have been trying to wrap my (old) head around containers and instances. Here are my thoughts at a 30 thousand foot level…

FT “Containers”. In my head the FT Container application is how “instances” are managed. Built/ran/etc…

FT “Instances”. Instances are basically a VM that uses OS, libraries, code, hardware, etc on the host hardware wheras a VM has it’s own “emulated” OS and has very little that is uses the host for. The “instance” of an OS then is very small and efficient compared to a true “VM”.

Am I on the right track?

2

Pretty much.

Technically, a “system container” shares the host’s kernel whereas a virtual machine has its own kernel.

At the end of the day, threads in the host are executing guest code… so that is the fundamental difference.

So, conceptually, you can think of them as lightweight and heavy VMs.

3

I gotcha. The instance goes though the container to get the host kernal.