Sounds handy, but I'm from the old school. I prefer to have a dedicated PC in the observatory. The PC is used for remote mount/CCD/focusing control, in addition to image calibration (application of darks and flats). I then copy the reduced files from the observatory PC to the image processing PC which has more grunt.
In such a topology, the observatory can be fully autonomous. It can start up and shutdown as required on command (using scripting), whether I'm there or not.
Attached is my simple observatory network. I've stripped all the sensitive information such as IP addresses and routing. I can either connect to the wireless network when I'm located at the observatory/farm house or remotely anywhere in the world via the internet to control/script observatory actions. I maintain a computer network connecting 72 countries so networking/firewalls and wireless technologies doesn't hurt my brain, its my job.
What I don't have at the moment is a weather system like the
boltwood cloud sensor, but I'm working on that.
