Virtual Machine
Domain: Computer Systems
🎯 Motivation
A full virtual computer running on a physical computer. Has its own OS. Heavier than a container.
📋 Concrete Example
VM: a Windows VM running on a Mac. Full Windows OS, separate from macOS. 4GB RAM allocated. Heavier than a container (full OS) but fully isolated.
🔗 Analogy
A VM is like a house on a plot of land - it has its own foundation, walls, and utilities (full OS). Fully independent but takes more space and resources. A container is like an apartment - shares the building (OS) but has its own space.