how to check the current status of server(up/down) from my rails application

how to check the curre开发者_开发技巧nt status of server(up/down) from my rails application . If server become down,and many users are logined, I need to perform some actions.

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ping is really easy in ruby, maybe someone with some more rails experience can give more related info though.

require 'ping'

Ping.pingecho "www.google.com"
=> true

Ping can also take in a timeout default is 5 and a port.