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Can an ethernet cable send internet and simultaneously allow software to communicate with physical equipment? (alien.top)
submitted 2 years ago by [B] to c/homenetworking@selfhosted.forum
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I have a small observatory in my yard, and a CAT6 cable buried in the ground running from an ethernet switch in my home to the observatory. I was wondering if it is possible to have that cable send internet to the observatory, and also use that cable as a means for communicating with my observatory equipment from inside my house? There are motors to open the dome and also rotate it, and a telescope mount that is motor driven, all run by one piece of software. Sometimes I will use a laptop out there for control, and sometimes I will use my PC inside.

Would I be able to use my inside computer to control the automation of the observatory and communicate with the equipment, while also simultaneously sending an internet signal to the building when I’m out there supervising it/observing? Or do I need to lay another cable?

Thanks!

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[–] [B] 1 point 2 years ago

Ethernet cables do not "sort out" and treat data communications differently by any kind of categorization. They will transmit any kind of valid data, without discrimination of the source. Internet traffic is not special and does not need to be treated any differently. It just happens to come from farther away.

So you can use your one cable to have the observatory communicate to any amount of devices, from your home or from the Internet, as long as your network topology and settings are configured to do so. Most likely, yours already is. You can test this by "pinging" your observatory equipment's IP Address from the PC controller inside your home.

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