# loop forever 
while(1)
{
  $TOTAL_TRIES = $TOTAL_TRIES +1;

  # loop thru our list of hosts, pinging each
  foreach $host (@HOSTS)
   {
     # get the current time
     ($sec, $min, $hour, $mday, $mon, $year, $wday, $yday, $isdst)  = localtime(time);

      # we assume no response until otherwise proven for this host 
      $got_response = 0;

      # Run the ping command, get results back in stdin
      open PING_RESULTS, "/bin/ping -c 1 $host 2>&1 |"
              or die "cant fork";

      while($line = <PING_RESULTS>)
       {
        if($line =~ /$PING_RESULT_STRING/)
         {
           $got_response = 1;
         }
       }
      # OK, we looped through all the data we got back from ping.
      # was there anything that indicated we got a response back?
      if($got_response == 0)
      {
        open LOG, ">> $LOG_FILE";
        $myTime = time;
        printf(LOG "$host $myTime $TOTAL_TRIES $year/$mon/$mday $hour:$min\n");
        close LOG;
      }
  } # end of loop