How do I know if a server (on the box) is running?

#include <stdio.h>
#include <winsock.h> 

#define STRSIZE 16536

void handle_error(void);
void receiveMessage(void);
void connectToWorkSpace();


char recvbuf[60000] = "";
SOCKET ConnectSocket;
struct sockaddr_in clientService; 

int bytesSent;
int bytesRecv = 0;
char sendbuf[500] = "";
 
struct hostent *h; 
char HOSTNME[20]="";
char hostname[20] = "localhost";			// for testing purposes
char hostnamebackup[20] = "local-blahblah";	// for testing purposes

int chker=0;

int main() 
{
	connectToWorkSpace();		
		
		while(1){
			receiveMessage();
		}


}


void receiveMessage()
{
	int bytesRecv = 0;


	bytesRecv = recv( ConnectSocket, recvbuf, 60000, 0 );

	
	if (bytesRecv == 0 ||  
		bytesRecv == SOCKET_ERROR ||
		WSAGetLastError() == WSAEINTR ||		/*(has been closed)*/
		WSAGetLastError() == WSAENOTCONN ||		/*(not connected)*/
		WSAGetLastError() == WSAENETRESET ||	/*(kepp-alive service failed and broke connection)*/
		WSAGetLastError() == WSAESHUTDOWN ||	/*(the socket was shutdown() peacefully)*/
		WSAGetLastError() == WSAECONNABORTED ||	/*(something died and the connection was broken)*/
		WSAGetLastError() == WSAETIMEDOUT ||	/*(the network died or the other computer stopped responding)*/
		WSAGetLastError() == WSAECONNRESET		/*(something died on the remote computer and broke the connection)*/
		){
			printf("Reconnect!\n");
			connectToWorkSpace();
	}else{
		recvbuf[bytesRecv]='\0';
			if(strlen(recvbuf)>0){
				printf("received message: %s \n", recvbuf);
			}
	}

}



void connectToWorkSpace()
{

int chkHost=0;
int loopHost=0;
int conn = 1;

	WSADATA wsaData;
	WORD wVersionRequested;               
	wVersionRequested = MAKEWORD( 1, 1 );


	if ( WSAStartup( wVersionRequested, &wsaData ) != 0 ){
		fprintf(stderr,"WSAStartup Error..."); 
		handle_error();
	}

	// will loop until connect() is successful
	while(conn != 0){

		chkHost =chker%2;

		if(chkHost == 0){
			printf("Connect Using Primary Host\n");
			strcpy(HOSTNME,hostname);
		}
		else {
			printf("Connect Using Backup Host\n");
			strcpy(HOSTNME,hostnamebackup);
		}

		// will loop until HOSTNME is reachable
		while(loopHost==0){
			chkHost =chker%2;
			if((h=gethostbyname(HOSTNME))==NULL)
			{ 
					printf("%s not reachable\n",HOSTNME);
					
					if(chkHost == 1){
						printf("Connect Using Primary Host\n");
						strcpy(HOSTNME,hostname);
					}
					else {
						printf("Connect Using Backup Host\n");
						strcpy(HOSTNME,hostnamebackup);
					}
					
			}else{
				loopHost=1;
			}
			Sleep(1000);
			chker++;
		}

			

		clientService.sin_addr=*((struct in_addr*)h->h_addr); 
		clientService.sin_port = htons(8770);
		clientService.sin_family = AF_INET;


			
		// Create a SOCKET for connecting to server
		ConnectSocket = socket(AF_INET, SOCK_STREAM, 0);
		if (ConnectSocket == -1) {
			handle_error();
			printf("Error at socket(): \n");
			//return -1;
		}

		// Connect 
		if( connect( ConnectSocket, (struct sockaddr*) &clientService, sizeof(struct sockaddr) ) == -1) {
			printf("Failed to connect. Workspaceserver is down.\n" );
			printf("Reconnecting........\n" );										
			loopHost=0;
			Sleep(5000);	
			conn = 1;
		}
		else {
			conn = 0;
			printf("Connection Success!\n");
		}

	}

	strcpy(sendbuf,"jaro");
	strcat(sendbuf, " :username");
	strcat(sendbuf, "\n");

	/* Send */
	bytesSent = send( ConnectSocket, sendbuf, strlen(sendbuf), 0 );
	printf( "\n messages Sent: %s\n", sendbuf );				
}


void handle_error(void)
{
  /*
   * Errors are handled by calling the WSAGetLastError routine which 
   * will return the last error as one of the following. As we develop
   * this tutorial, we will go into much more detail on what they mean
   * and what caused them.
   */
	int x;
	x= WSAGetLastError();

  switch ( x )
  {
    case WSANOTINITIALISED :
      printf("Unable to initialise socket.\n");
    break;
    case WSAEAFNOSUPPORT :
      printf("The specified address family is not supported.\n");
    break;
    case WSAEADDRNOTAVAIL :
      printf("Specified address is not available from the local machine.\n");
    break;
    case WSAECONNREFUSED :
      printf("The attempt to connect was forcefully rejected.\n"); 
      break; 
    case WSAEDESTADDRREQ : 
      printf("address destination address is required.\n");
    break;
    case WSAEFAULT :
      printf("The namelen argument is incorrect.\n");
    break;
    case WSAEINVAL :
      printf("The socket is not already bound to an address.\n");
    break;
    case WSAEISCONN :
      printf("The socket is already connected.\n");
    break;
    case WSAEADDRINUSE :
      printf("The specified address is already in use.\n");
    break;
    case WSAEMFILE : 
      printf("No more file descriptors are available.\n");
    break;
    case WSAENOBUFS :
      printf("No buffer space available. The socket cannot be created.\n");
    break;
    case WSAEPROTONOSUPPORT :
      printf("The specified protocol is not supported.\n");
      break; 
    case WSAEPROTOTYPE :
      printf("The specified protocol is the wrong type for this socket.\n");
    break;
    case WSAENETUNREACH : 
      printf("The network can't be reached from this host at this time.\n");
    break; 
    case WSAENOTSOCK :
       printf("The descriptor is not a socket.\n");
    break;
    case WSAETIMEDOUT :
      printf("Attempt timed out without establishing a connection.\n");
    break;
    case WSAESOCKTNOSUPPORT :
       printf("Socket type is not supported in this address family.\n");
    break;
    case WSAENETDOWN :
      printf("Network subsystem failure.\n");
    break;
    case WSAHOST_NOT_FOUND :
      printf("Authoritative Answer Host not found.\n");
    break;
    case WSATRY_AGAIN :
      printf("Non-Authoritative Host not found or SERVERFAIL.\n");
     break;
    case WSANO_RECOVERY :
       printf("Non recoverable errors, FORMERR, REFUSED, NOTIMP.\n");
    break;
    case WSANO_DATA :
      printf("Valid name, no data record of requested type.\n");
    break;
      case WSAEINPROGRESS :
      printf("address blocking Windows Sockets operation is in progress.\n");
    break;
    case WSAEINTR :
      printf("The (blocking) call was canceled via WSACancelBlockingCall().\n");
    break;
    default :
      printf("Unknown error.\n");
     break;
  }

}