Quote Originally Posted by Eric Dose View Post
Yes, we all have big LANs at home. The ethernet device count is not the problem.

The hosting problem would be the number of users, dozens of non-tech amateurs being confused on and duplicating IP addresses, ports, NAT, etc etc. Dozens of individuals' cameras, mounts, focusers etc etc, all plugged into ethernet free-form expecting the same independence they've enjoyed with USB for many years. The thought of 15 high-cadence CMOS cameras downloading data through the LAN. Colossal Nope.

So each hosting facility would have to rule the IP space (virtual or not) with a ruthless iron fist. Adding a focuser or guider would require permission from the hosting facility. Possible of course, but a new level of management required of hosting facilities, and new restrictions on users. Maybe SRO already rules individual-device IP space with an iron fist. Great. But that will have to become the model for other hosting facilities as well, at least for those that want to survive.

And, toy surprise: if users turn out to want Wi-fi as well, add in cross-talk, channel chaos, multipath reflections off the broad metal roofs, with 15 scopes in a building. Nightmare.
Eric you are soooo right. On the Alpaca front, we’ve gotten sniped at for not providing high security at the device level. We looked at the problem back in 2018, and we received input from university and government astronomy orgs that they would never trust the security that might be built into a focuser etc.

Short of air-gapping the LAN within which the control software and devices operate, the next best thing is to isolate the LAN from everything else. We expect to be the ones on whose backs the LAN traffic and security issues fall, and we’re already preparing. One of the guys is spinning up on an enterprise switch with which one can create isolated LANs / VLANs. There is a limit of course to which a small group of volunteers can help shared host operations but we’ll at least try. You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink.

Those shared facility people often operate fast and loose with their networks. One I know of got hit bad with a worm that was let into a tenant’s system then propagated through the extended LAN to other systems. You know the problem(s): Non-tech amateurs indeed, “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it” people, refusals to update Windows (and you know why) ... a free field of fire for a zero-day worm.