Episode 272: Michael Kennedy: Managing Your Own Python Infrastructure

The Real Python Podcast

Oct 31, 2025 1h 20m intermediate ai best-practices devops docker flask web-dev

How do you deploy your Python application without getting locked into an expensive cloud-based service? This week on the show, Michael Kennedy from the Talk Python podcast returns to discuss his new book, “Talk Python in Production.”

Michael runs multiple Python applications online, including a training site, blog, and two podcasts. While searching for the best solution for hosting his business, he documented his findings in a book. We talk about containerizing Python applications, generating static sites, preparing for traffic spikes, and avoiding cloud service lock-in.

Course Spotlight: Speed Up Python With Concurrency

Learn what concurrency means in Python and why you might want to use it. You’ll see a simple, non-concurrent approach and then look into why you’d want threading, asyncio, or multiprocessing.

Topics:

00:00:00 – Introduction
00:01:28 – Welcome back!
00:03:05 – Is this your first book?
00:04:13 – A book that reads like a blog
00:06:15 – Incentives to keep you locked in
00:09:20 – Following the journey of the Talk Python sites
00:11:47 – Audio reader briefs
00:15:19 – Discussing Dev Ops as a topic
00:18:31 – Background of developing for the web
00:20:14 – Stack-Native vs Cloud-Native
00:24:40 – Using Quart web framework
00:25:50 – Embracing Docker
00:32:39 – Sharing a single powerful machine allows for individual peaks
00:37:04 – Video Course Spotlight
00:38:30 – Minimal cloud lock-in
00:40:04 – Using OrbStack for local builds and testing
00:42:07 – Coolify as a Docker host
00:47:14 – Moving away from Google analytics and a GDPR rant
00:50:43 – Diving deep into web tech of ngnix, SSL, and CDNs
00:54:33 – Talking about the prices for hosting
00:59:09 – Creating static sites
01:06:22 – Invitation to come back to discuss AI and agents
01:10:06 – What are you excited about in the world of Python?
01:16:19 – What do you want to learn next?
01:17:34 – What’s the best way to follow your work online?
01:19:40 – Thanks and goodbye

Links:

Michael’s Recommended Hosting Locations:

Level Up Your Python Skills With These Courses:

Speed Up Your Python Program With Concurrency

Speed Up Python With Concurrency

Python Web Applications: Deploy Your Script as a Flask App

Deploy Your Python Script on the Web With Flask

Build a Scalable Flask Web Project From Scratch

Creating a Scalable Flask Web Application From Scratch

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