How to record if a Linked Server is offline?

I created the below script to track my linked servers. I set it up that it
would record a record for each server along with all its corresponding
databases. Unfortunately, I have not been able to successfully track a
server which is offline.
Currently, I am using cmdshell to ping linked servers and return any that
have a 'timed out' string. I feel that there must be a better way to see if
a linked server is offline via TSQL.
Thanks in Advance.
Drake
DECLARE @.DatabaseName VARCHAR(50)
,@.DatabaseNameString VARCHAR(200)
,@.DBString VARCHAR(200)
,@.Server VARCHAR(100)
,@.SQLcmd NVARCHAR(500)
,@.Error int
,@.Errormsg varchar(100)
--BEGIN TRAN
--SET NOCOUNT ON
DECLARE SERVERCRSOR CURSOR FOR
select srvname from sysservers order by srvname
OPEN SERVERCRSOR
FETCH NEXT FROM SERVERCRSOR INTO @.Server
WHILE @.@.FETCH_STATUS = 0
BEGIN
BEGIN
set @.SQLcmd = 'IF EXISTS(select name from [' + @.Server +
'].master.dbo.sysdatabases)
DECLARE STATUSCRSOR CURSOR FOR SELECT Name FROM [' + @.Server +
'].master.dbo.sysdatabases'
EXEC sp_executesql @.SQLcmd ,N'@.Server varchar(255)' ,@.Server
select @.Error = @.@.Error
if @.Error <> 0
begin
set @.Errormsg = 'Linked SQL Server does not exist or access denied.'
Insert into SQLMONITOR.dbo.tblSQLServerStatus (szLinkedServer_nm,
szDatabases_nm, dtStatusdate_dt)
Select @.Server, '(' + @.Errormsg + ')', getdate() DateStatus
raiserror ('test',1,1)
end
OPEN STATUSCRSOR
FETCH NEXT FROM STATUSCRSOR INTO @.DatabaseName
Select @.DBString = @.DatabaseName
WHILE @.@.FETCH_STATUS = 0
BEGIN
Select @.DBString = @.DBString + ',' + @.DatabaseName
FETCH NEXT FROM STATUSCRSOR INTO @.DatabaseName
Select @.DatabaseNameString = @.DBString
END
Insert into SQLMONITOR.dbo.tblSQLServerStatus (szLinkedServer_nm,
szDatabases_nm, dtStatusdate_dt)
Select @.Server, '(' + @.DatabaseNameString + ')', getdate() DateStatus
END
FETCH NEXT FROM SERVERCRSOR INTO @.Server
CLOSE STATUSCRSOR
DEALLOCATE STATUSCRSOR
END
CLOSE SERVERCRSOR
DEALLOCATE SERVERCRSOR
--COMMIT
GOYou could try to do a select count(*) from <<linked
server>>.pubs.dbo.authors and see if anything comes back.|||I need to clarify my above response - I have a job that contains 3
steps. Step #1 contains the SELECT statement against the linked
server. Step #1, on success, goes to step #2 which handles some
processing on the remote server. Step #1, on failture, goes to step
#3 which informs me that the linked server is not available.
Make sure that step #2 skips step #3.