This utility checks to see if a host is up or down

live_host.sh

#!/bin/bash

# This utility checks to see if a host is up or down

#set -x         # set for debugging

# set test flag
TEST=0

# Parse command line options
USAGE="Usage: `basename $0` [-t] [-h] host-name | IP-address"
while getopts ht OPT; do
    case "$OPT" in
        h)
            echo $USAGE
            exit 2
            ;;
        t)
            TEST=1
            ;;
        \?)
            # getopts issues an error message
            echo $USAGE >&2
            exit 2
            ;;
    esac
done
shift $((OPTIND-1))   # This tells getopts to move on to the next argument
TARGET=$1

# ping the host to see if it is up
COUNT=$( ping -c 1 $TARGET | grep icmp* | wc -l )

if [ $TEST -eq 0 ]
then
    if [ $COUNT -eq 0 ]
    then
        echo "Host is not Alive! Try again later..."
    else
        echo "Yes! Host is Alive!"
    fi
else
    if [ $COUNT -eq 0 ]
    then
        exit 1
    else
        exit 0
    fi
fi