

When people say “Docker” they typically mean Docker Engine. Docker is just one (and popular) container implementation. Practically, there is no easy setup for it.
#Docker desktop vs docker toolbox windows
Theoretically, you can run a Windows VM on Linux and run the Windows container. Note that container images can only be based on Windows Server Core and Nanoserver, not Windows 10. Windows (Server) ContainerĪ Windows application that runs in an isolated Windows environment. This same container can be run on a Windows OS using virtualization to emulate a Linux environment, but the container is still running on Linux.

Linux ContainerĪ Linux application that runs in an isolated Linux environment. It is a runable instance of an image, which is the unbundled image, executing in the isolated environment by the runtime.Ī container is considered “native”, if it can run directly on the host operating system. A container runtime is responsible for all the parts of running a container that isn’t actually running the program itself. It is a program that takes a container image, unbundles it and runs the application found inside in an isolated environment. It is a read-only template with instructions for creating a container.
#Docker desktop vs docker toolbox software
It is a lightweight, standalone, executable package of software that includes everything needed to run an application: code, runtime, system tools, system libraries and settings – as well as basic instructions for starting the application. Until then, it was all about running Linux containers on Windows using virtualization. So native windows containers started only in 2016. As always, not to be left behind, Windows jumped into the fray much later. So containers on Linux are pretty straight forward to understand. Here I’m just trying to consolidate all the disparate information into one webpage (pardon the pun) “Container”.Ĭontainers evolved in the Linux ecosystem using pre-existing Linux kernel features. This is an attempt to parse all the references and extract the relevant information.įurther, there are plenty of resources online to explain the concept of Docker and Containers.

As there is no official documentation on the evolution, it’s very hard to gauge the validity of some of the information in the current state. Since Containers and Docker developed rapidly, there is plenty of official and unofficial resources out there, many of which are now superseded or even obsolete. Add Windows to the mix and you have a soup of Linux container jargon topped with Windows quirks. Exploring the wilderness of Docker Containers in Linux and WindowsĬontainers in Linux by themselves are confusing with plenty of terminology.
