title: Should I use WCF or raw sockets?
body: <p>I wish to develop a client-server application in .NET that functions as follows:</p>
  
  <ol>
  <li>Clients connect to a central server. The server needs to keep track of which clients are connecting, and it must allow only those it knows (I have a repository of allowed clients). This is because in my application, it's critical to know who all are present at a given instance.</li>
  <li>The clients could be connected to some other devices, say over LAN/USB/Serial ports. The server should be able to control these connected devices through the client. For example, let's assume the client is connected to a camera. The server should be able to switch on the camera at some particular time, and then get back the images (or make the client do it and upload the result to the server).</li>
  <li>I would also like the ability make these clients run custom executable and get the result. For instance, the server sends an application to (or invokes some existing ones in) the client, makes the client run it, and gets back the resulting data.</li>
  </ol>
  
  <p>I'm just wondering if I can use WCF for this purpose, or should I go with good old sockets. Although the initial network would be small, I want it to scale (1000s of clients). Any suggestion would be greatly appreciated.  </p>