For an introduction to Vagrant, please refer to the previous article: What is Vagrant? The Difference Between Vagrant and VirtualBox
What is Vagrant#
For an introduction to Vagrant, please refer to the previous article: What is Vagrant? The Difference Between Vagrant and VirtualBox
Vagrant vs. Docker#
One of the most frequently asked questions about Vagrant is: What’s the difference between Vagrant and Docker?
Directly comparing Vagrant and Docker without considering the context is inappropriate. In some simple scenarios, their functions overlap, but in many more scenarios, they are not interchangeable.
So, when should you use Vagrant, and when should you use Docker?
Therefore, if you only want to manage virtual machines, you should use Vagrant; if you want to quickly develop and deploy applications, you should use Docker.
Let’s discuss why in more detail.
Vagrant is a VM management tool, or orchestration tool; Docker is a tool used to build, run, and manage containers. The question actually boils down to the difference between a virtual machine (VM) and a container (Container).
Let’s use a set of images from the internet to illustrate the differences between a physical machine (Host), a virtual machine (VM), and a container (Container).
Physical Machine (Host)
Virtual Machine (VM)
Container (Container)
From the images, we can more easily understand the differences between a virtual machine (VM) and a container (Container):
| Feature | Virtual Machine | Container |
|---|---|---|
| Isolation Level | Operating System Level | Process Level |
| Isolation Strategy | Hypervisor | CGROUPS |
| System Resources | 5 - 15% | 0 - 5% |
| Startup Time | Minutes | Seconds |
| Image Storage | GB | MB |
Summary: Differences in Use Cases for Vagrant and Docker
Vagrant is designed to manage virtual machines, while Docker is designed to manage application environments.
Vagrant is more suitable for development and testing, solving environment consistency issues; Docker is more suitable for rapid development and deployment, and CI/CD.
Finally, both Vagrant and Docker have a large number of community-contributed “Boxes” and “Images” available.
Welcome to follow the WeChat official account “DevOps攻城狮” - Focusing on DevOps knowledge sharing.