Observatory Computing & Networking
A local computing and storage system for an astrophotography club, built around repurposed hardware and designed for large RAW image datasets.
Overview
I designed and implemented the observatory's computing and networking infrastructure independently, with one exception: I worked with a friend on the physical construction of the server computer itself. The resulting system gives students a shared local environment for storing and processing large astrophotography files.
The server is a repurposed “Frankenstein” PC assembled from discarded school computers. It runs FreeBSD and provides shared storage and a simple web-based file interface over the observatory's local network.
System architecture
Storage and file service
Astrophotography produces very large RAW files, so the server is both a shared repository and a useful place to centralize processing data. Students can access files from the wired iMacs or from laptops connected to the local network over Wi‑Fi.
Download: stored data is decompressed by the server before being returned to the client.
What I built
- Configured and maintained the FreeBSD server and its local services.
- Designed the observatory's local network around a wired LAN with Wi‑Fi access for student laptops.
- Connected the server and three repurposed iMacs to the wired LAN.
- Created a simple local web interface that provides a Google Drive-style file experience over HTTP.
- Designed the storage workflow around large RAW astrophotography files.
- Implemented lossless compression on uploads and automatic decompression on downloads, using spare server CPU capacity to reduce storage requirements.
- Configured the three iMacs for Windows/macOS dual boot and preloaded them with astrophotography processing software.
I designed and implemented the computing, networking, storage, and software infrastructure independently. The physical construction of the server was collaborative.
