Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!samsung!caen!ox.com!ox.com!emv From: emv@ox.com (Ed Vielmetti) Newsgroups: comp.protocols.tcp-ip Subject: Re: Testing if a host is up Message-ID: Date: 16 Feb 91 06:42:29 GMT References: <529@trux.UUCP> Sender: usenet@ox.com (Usenet News Administrator) Organization: OTA Limited Partnership, Ann Arbor MI. Lines: 22 In-Reply-To: car@trux.UUCP's message of 15 Feb 91 18:34:50 GMT In article <529@trux.UUCP> car@trux.UUCP (Chris Rende) writes: I have a shell script which does a FTP of a file over to another host. I need a way to put a test ahead of the FTP that will determine whether or not the other host is "up". Just an observation -- just because a host answers pings doesn't necessarily mean it's up. Consider that it might be in single user mode doing backups, with the network interface up but no inetd services running and the partition you want to FTP to unmounted. Not to say that noticing that a few pings don't come back isn't a good idea, but it's not sufficient to guarantee service availability. Depending on your application, it might be enough. --Ed -- Msen Edward Vielmetti /|--- moderator, comp.archives emv@msen.com