How to check connectivity of SFTP server, get a return code, & immediately exit with the return

Hi,

I've seen lots of telnet examples that explain how to use sendkeys to automate a telnet session. But it appears all of them want to do things in the session.

I just want to check that the server is up and running, i.e. has connectivity ; return that connectivity status to VBScript, and make use of the return code.

What's the best way to do that, with native tools? If it's absolutely necessary, I'll use a third party self-contained executable.