This is an extension to a comment on duncan's answer, but can't put code blocks in comments, so...
<cfset TargetHost = "0.0.0.0" />
<cfset PingAttempts = 4 />
<cfif find('Windows',Server.Os.Name)>
<cfset Args = "-n #PingAttempts# #TargetHost#" />
<cfelse>
<cfset Args = "-c #PingAttempts# #TargetHost#" />
</cfif>
<cfexecute name="ping" arguments=#Args# variable="PingResult" timeout=10 />
<cfif PingResult CONTAINS "100% packet loss"
OR PingResult CONTAINS "100% loss"
>
[send alert]
</cfif>
<cfdump var=#PingResult# />
(In general, I'd still go with checking via an actual query - pinging only confirms the machine is online, not that the database is responding.)