Ping device or device2 and log it to a file with timestamp
 

I have a server, running Centos 6.2, that runs an app that is dependent on a stratus0 timeserver. I need to verify connectivity with a timeserver prior to starting NTPD and the app.
I am currently using the following cmd to accomplish this:
until /bin/ping -c 1 timeserver1 >> /var/log/ntpd.log || /bin/ping -c 1 timeserver2 >> /var/log/ntpd.log ; do
sleep 2
done

The only problem is that I cannot determine the timestamp for the log entries. I have attempted using the following cmd:
/bin/ping -c 1 timeserver1 | xargs -n1 -i bash -c 'echo `date +%F\ %T`" {}"' >> /var/log/ntpd.log || /bin/ping -c 1 timeserver2 | xargs -n1 -i bash -c 'echo `date +%F\ %T`" {}"' >> /var/log/ntpd.log ; do
sleep 2
done

The problem with this is if timserver1 is offline, it only logs the ping failure to timeserver1 and does not perform the or (||) and look for timeserver2.

If this is the wrong forum, please enlighten me and I will post it in the correct forum.

Thank you for your assistance.

It has been a while...

Try putting () around the first command with the pipe. The opening "(" would go before the first ping command. The ")" would go just before the ||

If I remember right, the shell waits for the second command for the exit status and it may be losing the ping exit.

Probably not the most efficient. I didn't check your xargs statement.