Article title is a bit click-baity. The article is only talking about Docker Desktop on Mac or Windows. Docker Linux have not been using microVMs for a decade.
Yawn. IBM/AIX's WPARs & LPARs, Sun/Solaris' dynamic system domains & zones, BSD jails. How many times are we going to pat ourselves on the back for reinventing the wheel?
We know. But of course the hype of "microVMs" is just a rebranding of existing technologies with some modifications, macOS needed extra virtualization technologies just for containers for years:
Docker Desktop macOS (until 2025): QEMU + Virtualization.framework + Linux kernel (without extra drivers) = "microVM".
Now they use the native Apple virtualization libraries instead of QEMU for both containers and microVMs. [0] Linux never needed to use KVM for containers, but requires it for microVMs:
Linux: KVM + Linux kernel (without extra drivers) = Firecracker "microVM".
In reality, it is different depending on the OS that you are using.
Article title is a bit click-baity. The article is only talking about Docker Desktop on Mac or Windows. Docker Linux have not been using microVMs for a decade.
Is all of docker one “micro” VM though? Or does each container get a clean, fresh one?
It’s all one lightweight VM. Containers share the VM’s kernel.
The shared kernel/lack of isolation between the cotnainer workloads is the model that this article isn't really touching but is really important.
Because the current needs are extremely lightweight and isolated environments i.e. vm per workload rather than shared.
And there's been a lot of wonderful innovations happen there
One reason I think a distinction is made is that native Docker-in-Docker can be a real pain, but Docker in a Firecracker microVM "just works".
> What if I told you that Docker Desktop has always used microVMs?
Then I would say your title is wildly misleading.
Yawn. IBM/AIX's WPARs & LPARs, Sun/Solaris' dynamic system domains & zones, BSD jails. How many times are we going to pat ourselves on the back for reinventing the wheel?
...*on macOS only and runs qemu as the emulator.
We know. But of course the hype of "microVMs" is just a rebranding of existing technologies with some modifications, macOS needed extra virtualization technologies just for containers for years:
Now they use the native Apple virtualization libraries instead of QEMU for both containers and microVMs. [0] Linux never needed to use KVM for containers, but requires it for microVMs: In reality, it is different depending on the OS that you are using.[0] https://www.docker.com/blog/docker-desktop-for-mac-qemu-virt...