code: def ping(self):
      
  
      msg = "PING\0"
      self.sfile.write(msg)
  
      ret, output = self.__response__()
      reply = str(output[0])
  
      if ret:
        msg = "Error pinging server %d:%s" % (ret, reply)
        raise LDBDClientException, msg
  
      return reply
docs: Ping the LDBD Server and return any message received back as a string.
  
      @return: message received (may be empty) from LDBD Server as a string