use Net::Ping;

	# Global variables
my $timeout = 90;			# Time to wait for a response from ping


# Part of sub --

	printf "DB Server to be tested for accessibility: $dbSrvrBox\n\n";

	# Ensure the connection to the DB Server is available
    	if (!$dbSrvrBox)  {
        	printf  ("Cannot find a boxname value in \"$_\" - Will abend.\n\n");  # 2
	    	};
    	next if (!$dbSrvrBox);

    	printf "Ready to ping $dbSrvrBox\n\n";

		if (ping($dbSrvrBox, $timeout)) {
			printf   "DB Server ($dbSrvrBox) is accessible at startup.\n\n";
			&msgLog ("DB Server ($dbSrvrBox) is accessible at startup.\n");
			}
		else  {
			printf  ("Cannot access $dbSrvrBox - abending.\n\n");		# 3
   		};

	printf "After ping\n";

RESULTS (DOS Cmd window) --

DBSERVER0: \\PLYSDEV03\DEV03-
DB Server to be tested for accessibility: PLYSDEV03

Ready to ping PLYSDEV03


C:\A_DRS_Proj\PerlCoding>


STAND-ALONE PING --

C:\A_DRS_Proj\PerlCoding>ping  PLYSDEV03

Pinging PLYSDEV03 [ ip ] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from [ ip ]: bytes=32 time=180ms TTL=125
Reply from [ ip ]: bytes=32 time=160ms TTL=125
Reply from [ ip ]: bytes=32 time=160ms TTL=125
Reply from [ ip ]: bytes=32 time=170ms TTL=125

Ping statistics for [ ip ]:
    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 160ms, Maximum =  180ms, Average =  167ms

C:\A_DRS_Proj\PerlCoding>