Docker is built on top of LXC, and thereforce runs containers, not VMs as Virtual Machines for instance. Docker containers are made of docker images, similar to LXC/VZ templates, but much more powerful.
What is a Container?
Using containers, everything required to make a piece of software run is packaged into isolated containers. Unlike VMs, containers do not bundle a full operating system – only libraries and settings required to make the software work are needed. This makes for efficient, lightweight, self-contained systems and guarantees that software will always run the same, regardless of where it’s deployed.
CONTAINERS
Containers are an abstraction at the app layer that packages code and dependencies together. Multiple containers can run on the same machine and share the OS kernel with other containers, each running as isolated processes in user space. Containers take up less space than VMs (container images are typically tens of MBs in size), and start almost instantly.
VIRTUAL MACHINES
Virtual machines (VMs) are an abstraction of physical hardware turning one server into many servers. The hypervisor allows multiple VMs to run on a single machine. Each VM includes a full copy of an operating system, one or more apps, necessary binaries and libraries – taking up tens of GBs. VMs can also be slow to boot.
Containers vs Virtual Machines
Containers and virtual machines have similar resource isolation and allocation benefits, but function differently because containers virtualize the operating system instead of hardware, containers are more portable and efficient
