def is_available(self, get_info=False):
        try:
            ret = self.ping("PING")
        except Exception as e:
            import traceback
            print "Exception while pinging server: %s" % e
            traceback.print_exc()
            if get_info:
                return (False, str(e))
            else:
                return False
            
        if "PING" in ret and "PONG" in ret:
            if get_info:
                return (True, None)
            else:
                return True
        else:
            msg = "Server at %s returned unexpected data %s" % (self.url, ret)
            print msg
            if get_info:
                return (False, msg)
            else:
                return False
Call the server's ping method, and see if we get a pong
dataset/ETHPy150Open fp7-ofelia/ocf/expedient/src/python/plugins/openflow/tests/omctl/XMLRPCServerProxy.py/PasswordXMLRPCServerProxy.is_available