Virtualisation with Docker Containers
Last Updated :
24 May, 2025
In a software-driven world where omnipresence and ease of deployment with minimum overheads are the major requirements, the cloud promptly takes its place in every picture. Containers are creating their mark in this vast expanse of cloud space with the world’s top technology and IT establishments relying on the concept for their infrastructural necessities.
Tech giants like Facebook, Google, and Microsoft use containers in their streamlined processes to facilitate a secure and easy deployment into the cloud production environments. This deployment with containers offers a technique that abstracts the application from the run-time environment offered by virtualization. The two core concepts to be explored here are:
- How are containers built on the virtualization technique?
- How do they offer an alternative to virtual machines?
How Containers Are Built Using Virtualization Technology?
To answer how containers enable virtualization let us discuss in detail what is virtualization and how containers come into play with this concept. Virtualization is a technique, which essentially creates an illusion of a resource such as a desktop, storage, network, or operating system. Devices, applications, and human users possess the capability of interacting with these resources. This illusion also called virtualization expands the capabilities of traditional systems, which are limited by their own physical resources. Now, containers enable this virtualization for applications that are deployed in them. Applications in containers run independently, isolated from any physical resource. Containers virtualize the OS, CPU, memory, storage, and network resources thereby providing a controlled environment that can be scaled up or down as required. A container also packages the application along with its dependencies and necessary files, which enables the application to be deployed on any environment without having to configure the server, hardware or software This still sounds similar to virtualization implemented through virtual machines right? So before we get into what more containers can do let us clear up how containers differ from virtual machines
How do They Offer An Alternative To Virtual Machines?
A Virtual machine is a form of hardware virtualization. The hardware is logically separated from the other resources. The hardware can be any system such as a desktop (with hardware and its own OS) called the host machine, on which several virtual machines or guest machines can run, each with their own separate operating systems. This is made possible by a firmware called the hypervisor.
Containers like virtual machines, run on a host machine. They can also be controlled as needed and provide isolation of applications from the run-time environment. However, containers aim at operating system virtualization. Unlike virtual machines, in a containerized system guest operating systems need not be installed on the host system. Instead, the underlying host operating system is shared by all instances of containers containing the application code. This makes containers lightweight and reduces operating system overheads associated with virtual machines such as patching, upgrading, driver support, etc. Moreover, it reduces the amount of resources of the host machine consumed by the presence of individual operating systems.
What Is The Difference Between A Docker And A Virtual Machine(VM)?
The following are the main differences between a Docker and a VM:
Aspect | Docker | Virtual Machine ( VM ) |
|---|
Isolation | Docker comes with light weight platform,
It uses containerization for Isolation environments. | Virtual Machines comes with heavy software provides full virtualization for Complete OS Isolation. |
|---|
Resources Usage | It consumes less resources from Host OS kernel and use them more efficiently | VM are less efficient in using of resources effectively, each VM uses it own OS kernel and consumes more resources. |
|---|
Start Time | These are faster in setting up the OS platforms( containers), typically in seconds. | These are slower in startup time often requires minutes to setup the Instances. |
|---|
Scalability | Scaling of containers in docker is easy , it comes with less footprints. | It will be resource intensive when scaling of instances. |
|---|
Portability | Docker provides containerized applications that are high portable, consistent across different environments. | These are also portable but it will be heavier due to its encapsulation of the entire OS. |
|---|
Use Case | It will be effective for microservices, lightweight applications and containerized environments. | It suitable for running multiple applications in different environments. |
|---|
Similarities Between Docker And VM
The following are the main similarities between Docker and a Virtual Machine:
- Isolation Environments: Both Docker and Virtual Machines provide some extent of isolation for the applications. Docker achieves isolation through containerization on isolating the processes whereas VM achieves full virtualizing as two entirely separate operating systems.
- Portability Of Applications: Portability of applications can be possible on both the docker and virtual machines to run the applications consistently across various different platforms. Docker provides docker images and VM provides encapsulating the entire virtualized OS, enabling easy migration between various platforms.
- Snapshot And Versioning: Snapshot and Versioning are supported in both platforms allowing users to capture the current state of an application at a specific point in time. It is useful for creating backups, testing, and versioning and provides an effective way of reverting to a specific known state.
- Resource Management: Both Technologies provide an efficient resource management. Both facilitate with allocation of specific resources such as CPU, memory and storage ensuring that applications run with necessary resources without any interference from each other.
Benefits Of Containers
- Applications can be deployed without any worry about the run time environment. As a result, an application can easily be moved through the software development cycle and can run anywhere, for example, on Mac OS, Linux, Windows, and even in data centers. This results in less expenditure of time on examining the environment and more time can be time on developing new functionality.
- Multiple containers with applications can be run on the same instance of physical resource sharing an operating system. These containers being lightweight are fast and efficiently utilize the computing resources available.
- Containers are isolated from one another, which gives the developer the leeway to split application services into different containers. These containers do not share any dependencies and each can be manipulated and updated by the developer at will.
- Containers come with the inbuilt capability of version control.
Benefits Of Virtual Machines
- Isolation And Security: VMs provide strong isolation by running the applications on fully virtual Separate Operating Systems on a single physical machine. Isolation provides security for the applications in the environments.
- Versatility And Compatibility: VM comes with supporting various operating systems allowing for a wide range of applications to run on the same physical hardware. Its versatility makes it suitable for hosting multiple applications as per their specified environments.
- Snapshots And Rollbacks: Virtual machines facilitate taking snapshots and capturing the complete state of the VM at a specific point in time. It provides the facility for the users to roll back their known and required states in case of updates or any issues.
- Resource Optimization: Virtualization provides efficient allocation and utilization of resources providing dynamic configuration of hardware resources such as RAM, CPU, and Storage for specific amounts. Its flexibility enhances resource management and scalability in virtualized environments.
When to Use: Docker Vs Virtual Machine
1. Use The Docker In The Following Cases
- Lightweight Isolation Is Sufficient: Docker is effective in situations where lightweight process isolation is sufficient. It is effective in usage with microservices architectures and for efficient containerized applications with minimal overhead.
- Fast Deployment And Scaling: Docker containers will start the applications quickly, making them suitable for dynamic environments that require rapid deployment and scaling.
- Consistent Development And Deployment: Docker provides consistency between development and deployment environments for applications. It ensures that applications behave in the same way across different stages of the development lifecycle.
2. Use The Virtual Machines In The Following Cases
- Fully Operating System Isolation Is Required: If your application needs complete isolation as separate operating systems, then Virtual Machines are the preferable choice. VM provides a stronger isolation, making it suitable for applications to run on diverse OS requirements.
- Legacy Applications And Compatability: VMs are preferable for hosting legacy type of applications that can't be containerized easily. They support a wide range of Operating Systems making the applications compatible with specific OS versions and configurations.
- Resource-Intensive Workloads: VM can be used in scenarios where there is a need for intensive computations for workloads, we can go for VM for having granular control over the resource allocations and making them better suited for the cases.
Conclusion
In conclusion, container usage enhances the virtualization technology for creating a light weighted, portable software applications for deployments. Containers share the host operating system to reduce the resources overhead and improve the efficiency of virtual computers. Container platforms like Docker provide the advantage of scaling, rapid deployment, and maintaining uniform development. It facilitates well in customizing the dynamic and lightweight providing strong isolation and support for different types of OS systems.
Similar Reads
What is Docker? Have you ever wondered about the reason for creating Docker Containers in the market? Before Docker, there was a big issue faced by most developers whenever they created any code that code was working on that developer computer, but when they try to run that particular code on the server, that code
12 min read
Introduction to Docker
Docker Installation
Docker - Installation on WindowsIn this article, we are going to see how to install Docker on Windows. On windows if you are not using operating system Windows 10 Pro then you will have to install our docker toolbox and here docker will be running inside a virtual machine and then we will interact with docker with a docker client
2 min read
How to Install Docker using Chocolatey on Windows?Installing Docker in Windows with just the CLI is quite easier than you would expect. It just requires a few commands. This article assumes you have chocolatey installed on your respective windows machine. If not, you can install chocolatey from here. Chocolatey is a package manager for the Windows
4 min read
How to Install and Configure Docker in Ubuntu?Docker is a platform and service-based product that uses OS-level virtualization to deliver software in packages known as containers. Containers are separated from one another and bundle their software, libraries, and configuration files. Docker is written in the Go language. Docker can be installed
6 min read
How to Install Docker on MacOS?Pre-requisites: Docker-Desktop Docker Desktop is a native desktop application for Windows and Mac's users created by Docker. It is the most convenient way to launch, build, debug, and test containerized apps. Docker Desktop includes significant and helpful features such as quick edit-test cycles, fi
2 min read
How to install and configure Docker on Arch-based Linux Distributions(Manjaro) ?In this article, we are going to see how to install and configure Docker on Arch-based Linux Distributions. Docker is an open-source containerization platform used for building, running, and managing applications in an isolated environment. A container is isolated from another and bundles its softwa
2 min read
How to Install Docker-CE in Redhat 8?Docker is a tool designed to make it easier to create, deploy, and run applications by using containers. Containers allow a developer to package up an application with all the parts it needs, such as libraries and other dependencies, and deploy it as one package. Installing Docker-CE in Redhat 8: St
2 min read
Docker Commands
Docker Images
What is Docker Image?Docker Image is an executable package of software that includes everything needed to run an application. This image informs how a container should instantiate, determining which software components will run and how. Docker Container is a virtual environment that bundles application code with all the
10 min read
Working with Docker ImagesIf you are a Docker developer, you might have noticed that working with multiple Docker Images at the same time might be quite overwhelming sometimes. Managing numerous Docker Images all through a single command line is a very hefty task and consumes a lot of time. In this article, we are going to d
2 min read
Docker - Publishing Images to Docker HubDocker is a container platform that facilitates creating and managing containers. In this article, we will see how docker stores the docker images in some popular registries like Dockerhub and how to publish the Docker images to Docker Hub. By publishing the images to the docker hub and making it pu
8 min read
Docker CommitDocker is an open-source container management service and one of the most popular tools of DevOps which is being popular among the deployment team. Docker is mostly used in Agile-based projects which require continuous delivery of the software. The founder, Chief Technical Officer, and Chief Archite
10 min read
Docker - Using Image TagsImage tags are used to describe an image using simple labels and aliases. Tags can be the version of the project, features of the Image, or simply your name, pretty much anything that can describe the Image. It helps you manage the project's version and lets you keep track of the overall development
7 min read
Next.js Docker ImagesUsing Next.js Docker images allows your app to deploy to multiple environments, and is more portable, isolated and scalable in dev and prod. Docker’s containerization makes app management super easy, you can move from one stage to another with performance.Before we get started, let’s cover the basic
14 min read
How to Use Local Docker Images With Minikube?Minikube is a software that helps in the quick setup of a single-node Kubernetes cluster. It supports a Virtual Machine (VM) that runs over a docker container and creates a Kubernetes environment. Now minikube itself acts as an isolated container environment apart from the local docker environment,
7 min read
Docker Containers
Containerization using DockerDocker is the containerization platform that is used to package your application and all its dependencies together in the form of containers to make sure that your application works seamlessly in any environment which can be developed or tested or in production. Docker is a tool designed to make it
9 min read
Virtualisation with Docker ContainersIn a software-driven world where omnipresence and ease of deployment with minimum overheads are the major requirements, the cloud promptly takes its place in every picture. Containers are creating their mark in this vast expanse of cloud space with the world’s top technology and IT establishments re
8 min read
Docker - Docker Container for Node.jsNode.js is an open-source, asynchronous event-driven JavaScript runtime that is used to run JavaScript applications. It is widely used for traditional websites and as API servers. At the same time, a Docker container is an isolated, deployable unit that packages an application along with its depende
12 min read
Docker - Remove All Containers and ImagesIn Docker, if we have exited a container without stopping it, we need to manually stop it as it has not stopped on exit. Similarly, for images, we need to delete them from top to bottom as some containers or images might be dependent on the base images. We can download the base image at any time. So
10 min read
How to Push a Container Image to a Docker Repository?In this article we will look into how you can push a container image to a Docker Repository. We're going to use Docker Hub as a container registry, that we're going to push our Docker image to. Follow the below steps to push container Image to Docker repository:Step 1: Create a Docker Account The f
3 min read
Docker - Container LinkingDocker is a set of platforms as a service (PaaS) products that use the Operating system level visualization to deliver software in packages called containers.There are times during the development of our application when we need two containers to be able to communicate with each other. It might be p
4 min read
How to Manage Docker Containers?Before virtualization, the management of web servers and web applications was tedious and much less effective. Thanks to virtualization, this task has been made much easier. This was followed by containerization which took it a notch higher. For network engineers, learning the basics of virtualizati
13 min read
Mounting a Volume Inside Docker ContainerWhen you are working on a micro-service architecture using Docker containers, you create multiple Docker containers to create and test different components of your application. Now, some of those components might require sharing files and directories. If you copy the same files in all the containers
10 min read
Difference between Docker Image and ContainerPre-requisite: Docker Docker builds images and runs containers by using the docker engine on the host machine. Docker containers consist of all the dependencies and software needed to run an application in different environments. What is Docker Image?The concept of Image and Container is like class
5 min read
Difference between Virtual Machines and ContainersVirtual machines and Containers are two ways of deploying multiple, isolated services on a single platform. Virtual Machine:It runs on top of an emulating software called the hypervisor which sits between the hardware and the virtual machine. The hypervisor is the key to enabling virtualization. It
2 min read
How to Install Linux Packages Inside a Docker Container?Once you understand how to pull base Docker Images from the Docker registry, you can now simply pull OS distributions such as Ubuntu, CentOS, etc directly from the Docker hub. However, the OS Image that you have pulled simply contains a raw file system without any packages installed inside it. When
2 min read
Copying Files to and from Docker ContainersWhile working on a Docker project, you might require copying files to and from Docker Containers and your Local Machine. Once you have built the Docker Image with a particular Docker build context, building it again and again just to add small files or folders inside the Container might be expensive
9 min read
How to Run MongoDB as a Docker Container?MongoDB is an open-source document-oriented database designed to store a large scale of data and allows you to work with that data very efficiently. It is categorized under the NoSQL (Not only SQL) database because the storage and retrieval of data in MongoDB are not in the form of tables. In this
4 min read
Docker - Docker Container for Node.jsNode.js is an open-source, asynchronous event-driven JavaScript runtime that is used to run JavaScript applications. It is widely used for traditional websites and as API servers. At the same time, a Docker container is an isolated, deployable unit that packages an application along with its depende
12 min read
Docker - Container for NGINXDocker is an open-source platform that enables developers to easily develop, ship, and run applications. It packages an application along with its dependencies in an isolated virtual container which usually runs on a Linux system and is quite light compared to a virtual machine. The reason is that a
11 min read
How to Provide the Static IP to a Docker Container?Docker is an open-source project that makes it easier to create, deploy and run applications. It provides a lightweight environment to run your applications.It is a tool that makes an isolated environment inside your computer. Think of Docker as your private room in your house. Living with your fami
2 min read
Docker Compose
Docker Swarm
Docker Networking
Docker NetworkingPre-requisite: Docker Docker Networking allows you to create a Network of Docker Containers managed by a master node called the manager. Containers inside the Docker Network can talk to each other by sharing packets of information. In this article, we will discuss some basic commands that would help
5 min read
Docker - Managing PortsPre-requisites: Docker Docker is a set of platform-as-a-service products that use OS-level virtualization to deliver software in packages called containers. These containers may need to talk to each other or to services outside docker, for this we not only need to run the image but also expose the c
4 min read
Creating a Network in Docker and Connecting a Container to That NetworkNetworks are created so that the devices which are inside that network can connect to each other and transfer of files can take place. In docker also we can create a network and can create a container and connect to the respective network and two containers that are connected to the same network can
2 min read
Connecting Two Docker Containers Over the Same NetworkWhenever we expose a container's port in docker, it creates a network path from the outside of that machine, through the networking layer, and enters that container. In this way, other containers can connect to it by going out to the host, turning around, and coming back in along that path.Docker of
3 min read
How to use Docker Default Bridge Networking?Docker allows you to create dedicated channels between multiple Docker Containers to create a network of Containers that can share files and other resources. This is called Docker Networking. You can create Docker Networks with various kinds of Network Drivers which include Bridge drivers, McVLAN dr
7 min read
Create your own secure Home Network using Pi-hole and DockerPi-hole is a Linux based web application, which is used as a shield from the unwanted advertisement in your network and also block the internet tracking system. This is very simple to use and best for home and small office networks. This is totally free and open-source. It also allows you to manage
3 min read
Docker Registry