# Laser downtime checklist From time to time the laser is unavailable. Either for maintenance or because of an issue. When this happens, this is a checklist of the things we need to do. If we don't do these steps, people may come a long way to VHS to use the laser, and be unable to use it. That is a bummer. The laser is volunteer run, and there are no guarantees of usability - but if we can clearly communicate what's happening that goes a long way to being excellent to each other! 1. Disable the laser via the MQTT flag - The laser login system can be disabled by flipping a switch in the private MQTT instance. - More details on how to do that to come. 2. Make bookings unavailable on booking.vanhack.ca - This can be done by changing the "VHS Redsail Laser" provider's "Working Plan" on [this page](https://booking.vanhack.ca/index.php/providers). 3. Cancel existing bookings on booking.vanhack.ca. - This can be done by going to the [laser booking calendar](https://booking.vanhack.ca/index.php/calendar), and deleting the individual bookings that are likely to be impacted by the downtime. 4. Put a sign up on the laser computer and the laser - see below for an example sign 5. Post on Slack #laser - Something like: "**LASER IS OUT OF SERVICE UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE**" - feel free to add a reason why if you can - we are hackers, we all like to know *why* everything. 6. Post on talk? - might be overkill, discussion happening now - example post to come if we decide this is needed. ## Example sign (you might be able to print this directly from the wiki, it should have page breaks before and after): # LASER IS OUT OF SERVICE UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE ### January 33rd, 2034 See #laser on slack for details and status updates. Thanks for your patience, the Laser Cutter Committee ## LASER OUT OF SERVICE - DO NOT USE # End example sign