Virtual Machine vs Container
- A hypervisor lets run multiple virtual machines on one physical machine by virtualizing hardware.
- Container Engine is what unpacks the container file and handle them off to the operating system kernel.
| Feature | Virtual Machine (VM) | Container |
|---|---|---|
| OS Dependency | Each VM has its own full OS → heavier and slower | Must use the same OS kernel as host |
| Resource Usage | High (CPU, RAM, storage) | Low, but limited by host resources |
| Crash Impact | VM isolated → host crash usually does not affect VM | If host OS crashes, all containers go down |
| OS Flexibility | Can run different OS on same host | Cannot run a different OS than host |
| Technology | Hypervisor-based | Namespace + cgroup based |
| Use Case | Multi-OS, strong security | Microservices, CI/CD, cloud apps |
❓ Can virtual machines and containers run on the same machine?
Yes,Virtual machines and containers can coexist on the same physical server.
- The server runs multiple virtual machines.
- Inside each VM, We can run containers (Docker, Kubernetes, etc.).