Nice analagy from Mike Coleman about the underlying architecture of Docker.
Houses (the VMs) are fully self-contained and offer protection from unwanted guests. They also each possess their own infrastructure – plumbing, heating, electrical, etc. Furthermore, in the vast majority of cases houses are all going to have at a minimum a bedroom, living area, bathroom, and kitchen. I’ve yet to ever find a “studio house” – even if I buy the smallest house I may end up buying more than I need because that’s just how houses are built. (for the pedantic out there, yes I’m ignoring the new trend in micro houses because they break my analogy)
Apartments (the containers) also offer protection from unwanted guests, but they are built around shared infrastructure. The apartment building (Docker Host) shares plumbing, heating, electrical, etc. Additionally apartments are offered in all kinds of different sizes – studio to multi-bedroom penthouse. You’re only renting exactly what you need. Finally, just like houses, apartments have front doors that lock to keep out unwanted guests.
Full story from Mike Coleman’s article
KevinMcCauley.com 