HTTP Ping for Websphere instances?

Hello list;

I'm wondering if anyone has worked out a solution to check if an Websphere JAS instance is functioning correctly via a HTTP ping or similar.

A normal ping just tells me the network services are up and a HTTP get/post is a tad more complicated than I'd like to use. Although I think it's best to ping the login page- /jde/owhtml/index.html

I'm aiming to use this to determine whether the instance is simply up and running (bypassing IIS).

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance,
/Philip