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What does operating-system virtualization mean?
In operating-system-level virtualization, software creates separate, isolated environments on top of a host operating system’s existing kernel. Those environments are commonly called containers. They share the kernel rather than each booting a separate guest kernel. Red Hat’s RHEL 7 Virtualization Getting Started Guide describes containerization in these terms.
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That definition is narrower than virtualization as a whole. The word can also refer to virtual machines, which represent complete virtual computers and run their own operating systems.
How is operating-system virtualization different from a virtual machine?
The practical distinction is what each isolated environment runs and shares. Containers share the host’s kernel; a VM has its own guest operating system and virtual resources. A hypervisor manages VMs and allocates physical resources to them.
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| Question | Operating-system-level virtualization | Virtual-machine system virtualization |
|---|---|---|
| Does each environment share a kernel? | Yes. Containers use the existing host OS kernel. Red Hat RHEL 7 guide. | No. Each VM runs its own guest OS. Red Hat; VMware. |
| Does each environment have its own operating system? | It is an isolated instance of the host OS, not a separate guest kernel. Red Hat RHEL 7 guide. | Yes. A VM is an isolated virtual computer with its own OS. VMware. |
| What manages the environment? | The existing OS kernel underpins the containers. Red Hat RHEL 7 guide. | A hypervisor manages VMs and distributes physical resources among virtual environments. Red Hat. |
Neither approach is universally faster or safer based on these definitions alone. The distinction describes how the environments are structured, not a blanket performance or security ranking.
What does a hypervisor do?
A hypervisor is software associated with VM-based system virtualization. It manages virtual machines and allocates physical computing resources among them. Containerization, by contrast, creates isolated environments using an existing operating-system kernel rather than giving each environment its own virtual hardware and guest kernel.
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What are full virtualization and paravirtualization?
These terms describe ways of virtualizing guest operating systems; they are not alternatives to the container-versus-VM distinction. Red Hat’s RHEL 7 guide distinguishes:
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- Paravirtualization: the guest operating system is modified to communicate with the hypervisor.
Those descriptions come from version-specific RHEL 7 documentation and should not be read as current product-support guidance.
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Which meaning of “virtualization” is intended?
Check what the discussion says about kernels and guest operating systems. If isolated environments share an existing kernel, it means operating-system-level virtualization or containerization. If each environment runs its own OS and a hypervisor manages virtual resources, it means VM-based system virtualization. Red Hat’s broader RHEL 5 virtualization overview and its general virtualization explanation illustrate why the umbrella term needs context.
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