Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!decwrl!shelby!rutgers!att!cbnewsk!lih
From: lih@cbnewsk.att.com (andrew.a.lih)
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.tcp-ip
Subject: Re: quick check for available host
Summary: Use Ping to check for hosts alive
Message-ID: <1990Oct3.200749.16049@cbnewsk.att.com>
Date: 3 Oct 90 20:07:49 GMT
References: <771@tiamat.fsc.com>
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
Lines: 15

In article <771@tiamat.fsc.com>, jim@tiamat.fsc.com (Jim O'Connor) writes:
> What is a quick way for a shell script to find out if a networked
> host is currently available?

If you just want to know if the host is alive, then the 'ping'
program will suffice.  It basically sends packets over to the
host you specify and returns the round trip time for the
packet.  Most of the time it is used to detect delays and
transmission times, but in this case you can use it to see
if the machine is up.

/lih

AT&T Bell Labs
Middletown, NJ