Remotely confirming WS App Server availability?

[w951bvc]

So here's a question.

Our WS App Server and DS Engine are on two different machines. We have scripts on the DS server to enable our services upon reboot. However, more and more often both of these servers are patched and rebooted at the same time. Which is problematic since the WAS server needs to be fully up and running before we can enable the services on the engine.

So what kind of a call or command can I perform from a shell script on the DS server, to check that the WAS back is up and ready to handle services? I'm drawing a blank.

Any suggestions greatly appreciated.

Thanks for your time,

Richard