Ain't it a little bit like shooting those little thingies (I can't remember the correct English idiom) with cannons?

Update: sparrows, someone suggests me.

I find that often a seemingly little project like pinging a few hosts can accidently turn into a 'complete' network monitoring system. If you start with the proper software right from the get-go, you won't end up creating your own custom wheel.

non-Perl: Andy Ford