How is this possible? CentOS container on Ubuntu (newbie question)

[maapinho]

Hi Jamshid,
You went a bit too low level for me.

@jamshid

The docker server runs on any Linux os. E.g. I installed docker on an Ubuntu 16.04 machine:

OK I understood that.

@jamshid

All the containers running on a docker server share the kernel, but otherwise are like little, independent virtual machines.

This maybe the part that is confusing me a bit.

Before going further please understand I’m a “windows guy”.

Can you explain what happens when you run a container from a CentOS image inside an Ubuntu for example? Or is the kernel for most Linux OS distributions the same and what distinguishes them is just the processes and applications installed over the kernel? So when I run a CentOS docker container all its doing is just running the apps processes that make CentOS different from others?

Thanks