Methods and apparatus are disclosed to deploying a distributed system using operating system or container virtualization. An example apparatus includes a management container including a configuration manager and a container manager. The example configuration manager to is receive an instruction for a desired deployment state and is to apply a first change to a first current deployment state of the management container based on the desired deployment state. The example container manager is to apply a second change to a second current deployment state of a deployed container based on the desired deployment state. The container manager is to return information indicative of the desired deployment state to the configuration manager when the second change from the second current deployment state to the desired deployment state is achieved.