> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://igb.mit.edu/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://igb.mit.edu/mini-courses/advanced-utilization-of-igb-computational-resources/containerization.md).

# Containerization

Recall that there is a third way by which we handle package management on Luria: containerization. Similar to Environment Modules and Conda environments, containerization is a way of packaging an environment into a container such that it contains the absolute bare minimum needed to run a specific set of software. Containers can be thought of as a very stripped down operating systems packaged into a little box, although that is not what they are.

Containers have their own filesystem where the software runs, and it is a snapshot of the filesystem needed for a piece of software to run. Therefore, if a container can run a piece of software now, it should be able to do so always.

Since a containerized application contains everything it needs in order to run, it is very easy to share containers with people so that they can easily run software.

Container pros:

* Portable
* Shareable
* Consistent

Popular container engines:

* Docker
* Singularity