Containers explained
Unsure of what containers are or the role they play in Red Hat® OpenShift®? This resource includes several topic articles on containers and containerization.
What do you need before starting?
- Nothing - you can start here
Understanding containers
Containers are technologies that allow the packaging and isolation of applications with their entire runtime environment, making it easy to move the contained application between environments while retaining full functionality.
What's a Linux container?
A Linux® container is a set of one or more processes that are isolated from the rest of the system. All the files necessary to run them are provided from a distinct image, meaning Linux containers are portable and consistent as they move from development, to testing, and finally to production.
What is containerization?
Containerization is the packaging together of software code with all its necessary components like libraries, frameworks, and other dependencies so that they are isolated in their own "container."
Containers vs. virtual machines (VMs)
Linux containers and virtual machines (VMs) are packaged computing environments that combine various IT components and isolate them from the rest of the system. Containers typically package single functions that perform specific tasks, while VMs usually contain their own operating system, allowing them to perform multiple resource-intensive functions at once.
Keep reading about the differences between containers and VMs
Why choose Red Hat for containers?
Red Hat’s container solutions are based on open source, community-driven technologies like Linux, CRI-O, and Kubernetes. This means more people developing software openly, transparently, and freely.
Learn why Red Hat is the right choice for containers
Now that you understand containers and containerization, you’re ready to learn more about Kubernetes, an open-source container orchestration platform.
