containers vs image: What are the differences?
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Lifecycle Management: One key difference between containers and images is that a container is a running instance of an image, while an image is a lightweight, stand-alone, and executable package that includes everything needed to run a piece of software.
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Persistence: Containers are designed to be ephemeral, meaning they can be easily created, started, stopped, deleted, and recreated, while an image is a static file that is used to create containers. This means that changes made within a container will not persist unless specifically saved back to an image.
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Size: Images are typically larger in size as they contain all the files and dependencies needed to run an application, while containers are smaller because they share the host system's kernel and resources, only including the necessary components specific to the application.
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Networking: Containers have their own network interfaces and can connect to other containers and networks, while images do not have networking capabilities and rely on the container to provide network connectivity.
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Security: Containers provide a level of isolation and security, as they run in their own namespaces and control groups, while images are static and do not have this built-in security feature.
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Deployment: Images are used to create containers, which can then be deployed and scaled horizontally to handle increased workload, whereas images themselves are not deployable or scalable.
In Summary, the key differences between containers and images lie in their lifecycle management, persistence, size, networking, security, and deployment capabilities.