Introduction

Virtualization has revolutionized computing by enabling efficient resource utilization, scalability, and isolation. At its core, virtualization allows software to emulate physical hardware or operating systems, creating flexible environments for applications. Two dominant technologies in this space are Virtual Machines (VMs) and Containers, each with distinct architectures and use cases. In this article, we’ll dissect their differences, explore their underlying mechanisms, and demystify tools like Incus that bridge the gap between them.

What Does “Virtualizer” Mean?

A virtualizer is software or hardware that creates an abstraction layer, allowing one system to imitate the functionality of another. This could involve emulating hardware (e.g., CPUs, storage), networks, or even entire operating systems. Virtualization serves multiple purposes:

• Resource Efficiency: Share physical resources (CPU, memory) across multiple isolated environments.
• Isolation: Prevent applications or services from interfering with one another.
• Portability: Decouple software from hardware, enabling seamless migration across systems.

Examples include hypervisors (for hardware virtualization), Docker (for containerization), and network virtualizers like VPNs.

Virtual Machines (VMs): Full OS Isolation

How VMs Work

A Virtual Machine (VM) emulates a complete physical computer, including a full operating system (OS), virtualized hardware (CPU, memory, disks), and device drivers. VMs rely on hardware-assisted virtualization technologies like Intel VT-x or AMD-V to efficiently partition physical resources.

The Role of the Hypervisor

The hypervisor (or Virtual Machine Monitor) is the core enabler of VMs. It sits between the hardware and the VMs, translating VM requests into hardware commands. There are two types of hypervisors:

1. Type 1 (Bare-Metal): Runs directly on the host hardware (e.g., VMware ESXi, Microsoft Hyper-V, KVM).
2. Type 2 (Hosted): Runs atop a host OS (e.g., VirtualBox, VMware Workstation).

For example, when a VM allocates memory, the hypervisor maps it to the physical RAM while ensuring isolation from other VMs.

Pros of VMs

• Strong Isolation: Each VM operates independently, with its own kernel and OS. A crash or security breach in one VM doesn’t affect others.
• Cross-OS Compatibility: Run Windows on a Linux host or vice versa.
• Legacy Support: Ideal for apps requiring older OS versions or specific hardware configurations.

Cons of VMs

• High Overhead: Duplicating an entire OS consumes significant CPU, memory, and storage.
• Slow Startup: Booting a VM can take minutes, similar to a physical machine.
• Complex Management: Patching and updating multiple OS instances is time-consuming.

Containers: Lightweight Process Isolation

How Containers Work

Containers virtualize the operating system itself, allowing multiple isolated user-space instances to run on a single host kernel. Unlike VMs, containers don’t emulate hardware—they share the host’s kernel and leverage two Linux kernel features:

1. Namespaces: Isolate processes, networks, and filesystems. For example:

• PID Namespace: Hides processes from other containers.
• Mount Namespace: Provides a unique filesystem view.
• Network Namespace: Assigns separate IP addresses and ports.

1. Control Groups (cgroups): Limit resource usage (e.g., CPU, memory, disk I/O).

Tools like Docker, Podman, and containerd package applications into portable images with all dependencies included.

Pros of Containers

• Lightweight: Share the host kernel, consuming minimal resources.
• Rapid Deployment: Start in seconds, ideal for scaling microservices.
• Portability: A containerized app runs consistently across environments.
• DevOps-Friendly: Integrate seamlessly with CI/CD pipelines and Kubernetes.

Cons of Containers

• Kernel Dependency: All containers must use the same OS kernel as the host.
• Security Risks: A compromised kernel could expose all containers.
• Limited OS Flexibility: Cannot run Windows containers on a Linux host (without emulation).

Incus: The “Container Hypervisor”

What is Incus?

Incus is a manager for Linux containers. It combines the density and speed of containers with the operational familiarity of VMs.

How Incus Works

Under the hood, Incus uses LXC (Linux Containers), the same kernel features (namespaces, cgroups) as Docker. However, Incus adds VM-like management capabilities:

• Full OS Containers: Run a complete OS (e.g., Ubuntu, CentOS) inside a container.
• VM-Like Features: Snapshots, live migration, and GPU passthrough.
• Declarative Configuration: Define resources (CPU, memory) via YAML profiles.

For example, you can launch an Ubuntu container with Incus as easily as a VM:

# incus launch images:ubuntu/noble/cloud my-container

Incus vs Docker

While Docker focuses on application containers (single process/services), Incus caters to system containers:

• Docker: Optimized for microservices (e.g., web servers, databases).
• Incus: Ideal for environments needing full OS functionality (e.g., development environments, lightweight cloud instances).

Use Cases for Incus

1. Cloud Infrastructure: Replace VMs with lighter containers for cost savings.
2. Edge Computing: Rapidly deploy and update IoT devices.
3. Development Sandboxes: Isolated environments mimicking production VMs.

VMs vs Containers: Key Comparisons

Criteria	Virtual Machines	Containers
Isolation	Hardware-level (stronger security)	Process-level (shared kernel)
Performance	Higher overhead, slower startup	Near-native speed, instant startup
Resource Usage	Heavy (dedicated OS/kernel)	Lightweight (shared kernel)
OS Flexibility	Run any guest OS	Limited to host kernel’s OS
Use Cases	Legacy apps, multi-OS environments	Microservices, CI/CD, cloud-native apps
Security	Strong (hypervisor-mediated)	Depends on kernel hardening

When to Choose VMs

• Running Windows applications on a Linux host.
• Critical workloads needing ironclad isolation (e.g., financial systems).
• Environments where kernel-level vulnerabilities are unacceptable.

When to Choose Containers

• Cloud-native apps using microservices.
• DevOps pipelines requiring rapid scaling.
• Resource-constrained environments (e.g., edge devices).

Security Considerations

Since VMs don’t share kernels, a compromised VM cannot directly attack the host or other VMs. Hypervisors like KVM and VMware are battle-tested for sensitive workloads. Containers inherit the host kernel’s vulnerabilities. A container breakout (escaping isolation) could compromise the entire host.

Conclusion

In this article, we’ve looked into the differences between VMs and Containers and briefly explored their underlying mechanisms.

This article was written by Ahmad Adel . Ahmad is a freelance writer and also a backend developer.