What is the architectural difference between Docker containers and virtual machines and what are the implications for density and startup time?

Docker Fundamentals Hard

Docker Fundamentals — Hard

What is the architectural difference between Docker containers and virtual machines and what are the implications for density and startup time?

Key points

  • Containers share host kernel, VMs have full OS kernel per instance
  • Containers have minimal overhead, VMs have large footprint
  • Containers start in milliseconds, VMs take minutes
  • Containers allow for higher density on the same hardware

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