Shutter seems to like dying on my system for one reason or another - it'll software glitch out at times and sometimes the battery dies too.
I can avoid battery dies though by not letting it get too low - I can move the dome around remotely even if the shutter is not connecting - the key is I need to know the battery is low. So I think the ascom server should be able to send an email alerting it's condition at whatever threshold the user sets - I'd set mine so I can see the problem half a day ahead of it causing the dokota to stop accepting charges or cutting out the arduino's power.
Related - one problem I have with the shutter is it's hard to know when it last gave data if you're using the UI. So time since last communication in seconds would be useful.