I found a snippet online at StackOverflow:
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2953462/pinging-servers-in-python/32684938
I am working with two FTP servers at work and am writing tests for the application we run on it. The test case I am handling right now involves having no application, no backup, and no valid application on the FTP server that will FTP it to the machine. I get an Updater FTP error. After 1s, 2s, 3s, 1m, 10m, and 1 hour it will reboot the machine and since I only have it in the log files to prove that, I need to have the test know when this reboot happens. So I am pinging the machine once a sec for 4,266 seconds and when it goes offline, it will return false.
I encountered a problem I want to document for the future in case anyone else or myself forgets this will happen.
On any other machine, a ‘Destination Host Unreachable’ error will be False, but if you specify identifying the machine as Windows, it will still return true.
The Code Road 