What is the difference between containers and virtual machines?

Virtual machines virtualise complete hardware including the operating system and are correspondingly heavy. Containers share the host operating system kernel, are lighter, start faster and use resources more efficiently.

Docker is the most popular containerisation platform. It packages applications into containers, stores them as images and runs them consistently anywhere — independently of the underlying environment.

Do I need Kubernetes if I use containers?

Not necessarily. For a few containers, simple tools such as Docker Compose are enough. Only when many containers have to be scaled across several servers and run with high availability does an orchestrator such as Kubernetes pay off.

Containerisation: Docker & containers explained

Containerisation: Docker & containers explained | SW Business Solutions