[Python] What to do if your Enterprise Desktop Locks Down ping -c

 I wanted to collect the IP addresses of a number of hostnames, and I thought I'd do it by using the Windows Command Prompt to ping each host name just once, then collect my results (I did not want 4 pings to each hostname). When I tried to run 'ping -c 1 myhostname' I got an error regards it needs administrative privileges (which I don't have on the enterprise desktop I am using.)

I have Python on my Enterprise desktop and came across this:

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2953462/pinging-servers-in-python

And it works like ping -c 1!

import platform # For getting the operating system name
import subprocess # For executing a shell command
def ping(host):

    # Option for the number of packets
    param = '-n' if platform.system().lower()=='windows' else '-c'

    # Building the command. Ex: "ping -c 1 google.com"
    command = ['ping', param, '1', host]

    return subprocess.call(command) == 0

And on reading the Python, I realized that if I'd used 'ping -n 1 myhostname' from the Windows Command Prompt, I would not have needed Python. You live and learn! The image below shows the 'Access denied. Option -c requires administrative privileges' and doing ping -n 1 myhostname.

Image: How to do just one ping in the Windows Command Prompt (use ping -n)