diff --git a/ejabberdctl.template b/ejabberdctl.template
index 683f172a3..3b3461bbd 100755
--- a/ejabberdctl.template
+++ b/ejabberdctl.template
@@ -16,9 +16,6 @@ IEX={{bindir}}/iex
 EPMD={{bindir}}/epmd
 INSTALLUSER={{installuser}}
 
-# Compatibility in ZSH
-#setopt shwordsplit 2>/dev/null
-
 # check the proper system user is used if defined
 if [ "$INSTALLUSER" != "" ] ; then
     EXEC_CMD="false"
@@ -241,14 +238,6 @@ iexlive()
       --erl \"$ERLANG_OPTS\" --erl $ARGS --erl \"$@\""
 }
 
-etop()
-{
-    $EXEC_CMD "$ERL \
-      $NAME debug-${TTY}-${ERLANG_NODE} \
-      -hidden -s etop -s erlang halt -output text -node $ERLANG_NODE"
-}
-
-# TODO: refactor debug warning and livewarning
 debugwarning()
 {
     if [ "$EJABBERD_BYPASS_WARNINGS" != "true" ] ; then
@@ -270,7 +259,7 @@ debugwarning()
         echo "Press return to continue"
         read foo
         echo ""
-    fi    
+    fi
 }
 
 livewarning()
@@ -297,7 +286,26 @@ livewarning()
     fi
 }
 
-# TODO: Make iex command display only if ejabberd Elixir support has been enabled
+etop()
+{
+    TTY=`tty | sed -e  's/.*\///g'`
+    $EXEC_CMD "$ERL \
+      $NAME debug-${TTY}-${ERLANG_NODE} \
+      -hidden -s etop -s erlang halt -output text -node $ERLANG_NODE"
+}
+
+ping()
+{
+    TTY=`tty | sed -e  's/.*\///g'`
+    $EXEC_CMD "$ERL \
+      $NAME ping-${TTY}-${ERLANG_NODE} \
+      -hidden \
+      -pa $EJABBERD_EBIN_PATH \
+      $KERNEL_OPTS $ERLANG_OPTS \
+      -eval 'io:format(\"~p~n\",[net_adm:ping($1)])' \
+      -s erlang halt -output text -noinput"
+}
+
 help()
 {
     echo ""
@@ -328,9 +336,9 @@ ctl()
     # flock that can lock a file descriptor.
     MAXCONNID=100
     CONNLOCKDIR={{localstatedir}}/lock/ejabberdctl
-    FLOCK='/usr/bin/flock'
+    FLOCK=/usr/bin/flock
     if [ ! -x "$FLOCK" ] || [ ! -d "$CONNLOCKDIR" ] ; then
-        JOT='/usr/bin/jot'
+        JOT=/usr/bin/jot
         if [ ! -x "$JOT" ] ; then
             # no flock or jot, simply invoke ctlexec()
             CTL_CONN="ctl-${ERLANG_NODE}"
@@ -470,6 +478,7 @@ case $ARGS in
     ' iexdebug') iexdebug;;
     ' live') live;;
     ' iexlive') iexlive;;
+    ' ping'*) ping ${ARGS# ping};;
     ' etop') etop;;
     ' started') wait_for_status 0 30 2;; # wait 30x2s before timeout
     ' stopped') wait_for_status 3 15 2 && stop_epmd;; # wait 15x2s before timeout