ping help

[stuckwithcode]

is this the best way to check if a server is live? 

 

<?php

 

$host = "www.google.com";

$fp = fsockopen($host, 80, $errno, $errstr, 10);

 

if($fp)

{

echo "yes it is";

fclose($fp);

}

else

{

echo "no it is not";

}

 

?>

 

But if you type in a false server eg www.googddfsdfsd.com it returns an error how can i get it to return false and why doesn't it.