I've been diving into the world of Docker, k3s, and Rancher for a while, but I'm still confused about containerization versus virtualization. To me, they seem similar—like, when I clone a VM in VirtualBox, it feels the same as creating replicas in Kubernetes. I've heard people say things like, "there's no OS in Kubernetes, but a VM has its own OS," and I don't quite get it. Doesn't every pod in Kubernetes need an OS? It feels like I could end up with multiple operating systems running within containers instead of just one in a VM. The idea that containers are smaller is nice, but I'm not sure that alone justifies using them over traditional VMs.
I had a recent interview with a DevOps team, and I really struggled with questions like, "What's the difference between virtualization and containerization?" I wanted to understand these concepts better, and I'm seriously immersing myself in computer science fundamentals like networking and operating systems. But I'm not sure if I'm on the right path or just getting lost in irrelevant information. Any insights on the fundamental principles of microservices, containerization, and their applications would really help me out!
1 Answer
The core goal of containerization is to run apps in isolated environments that can be quickly deployed, kind of like using an MSI file for installation but without interference from the host. This rapid deployment means you don’t have to fire up a whole OS just to run a single application. For instance, instead of setting up a full Linux OS to run something like a UniFi controller, you just use a container that houses everything that’s required, all while taking up far fewer resources. And tools like Kubernetes let you manage and scale these containers with ease—deploying multiple instances becomes a breeze!
Exactly! I faced the same issue until I started using orchestration tools. They handle where services run and take care of routing, scaling, and security updates much more smoothly than managing VMs. It saves so much hassle!