Running Containers and VMs Together Doesn’t Have to Be a Mess

Containers have become the go-to way to build and deploy new applications, and for good reason. They are lightweight, easy to replicate, fast to update, and use fewer resources than traditional virtual machines. 

But not every workload fits neatly into a container. Many long-running or specialized applications were built for virtual machines and still depend on them. These apps aren’t easily refactored, and rewriting them isn’t always worth the cost or risk, especially when they’re running in edge locations where stability is critical. So you end up running both. Containers for the newer, cloud based workloads; VMs for everything else that still needs strong isolation or specific OS-level control. And while that seems to work, it also introduces another set of problems, especially when both have to run on the same limited hardware at the edge.

The Struggle

Running two deployment models side by side sounds like the best solution for the situation, but it quickly adds a layer of management overhead. Different tooling, separate monitoring, duplicate maintenance processes, it all adds up. So when a rollout goes wrong, users at the edge feel it immediately. 

The  challenge is not that containers or VMs are flawed, it’s that they are treated as two separate worlds. But, what if there’s a solution to bring them together under a single framework that makes them work together? 

How It Comes Together

That's the idea behind how Tekkio handles deployment at the edge. On the container side, Tekkio provides native support for Docker and OCI-compliant images. Containers can be pulled from any registry, deployed consistently through easy-to-manage profiles, and kept up to date automatically. This keeps your edge environment lightweight, redundant, and fast to recover. At the same time, virtual machines maintain their place at the core. Built on the KVM hypervisor, Tekkio supports both Linux and Windows workloads with strong isolation and minimal performance overhead. Features like live migration and automatic recovery make sure workloads stay available, even during maintenance or node failures. What really connects it all is TekkioMesh,  the proxy layer that allows containers and VMs to communicate seamlessly. That means teams can migrate workloads gradually without affecting users. There’s no hard switch, no downtime, and no sudden rearchitecting. To make things even simpler, TekkioFS provides a shared filesystem that both containers and VMs can access without extra configuration or cost. Data stays consistent, and workloads can exchange files natively.

The Outcome

By treating both containers and virtual machines as first-class citizens, each playing to their strengths without competing for priority. You can keep using VMs where stability and isolation matter most, experiment freely with containers for faster, lighter deployments, and transition between them when it makes sense, all without affecting the operation. That flexibility lets teams modernize, at their own pace, while keeping uptime and performance steady.