Lessons Learned from Serving 14 Million In-Browser Python Consoles with Tornado

Explore the challenges and solutions encountered while serving millions of in-browser Python consoles using Tornado in this EuroPython 2013 conference talk. Dive into the intricacies of web sockets, process connections, and PTY implementation. Learn about the evolution from a simple afternoon project to a robust system supporting authentication, unicode, and multiple sessions. Discover the tweaks and optimizations made to the code, including the use of epoll and asynchronous programming. Gain insights into the differences between Tornado and Twisted, and understand the core issues faced, such as managing too many processes. Ideal for developers interested in scalable web applications and real-time communication.

Introduction
What is Tornado
Web sockets
Background
Structure
Process Connection
PTY
No authentication
One afternoon in 4 hours
Authentication
unicode support
checkins
multiple sessions
over websocket
tweaking the code
epicycles
epoll
p expect
fork
asynchronous programming
bug in console server
complete tornado serve
ask questions
Tornado vs Twisted
Code back up
The core
Too many processes
Who is Tornado for
Virtualisation