check status of nmb daemon

def check_nmb_daemon(counter=0):
  #check status of server
  cmd = "/etc/init.d/nmb status"

  #send that command to CLI
  p = subprocess.Popen(cmd, shell=True, stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stderr=subprocess.PIPE)
  #get the output
  stdout, stderr = p.communicate()
  #check for the error in executing the command
  if stderr:
      print("there was an error in executing ping command")
      return "cmd failed"
  #check the output
  pattern_running = r"\brunning\b"#regex for a running nmb service
  match = re.compile(pattern_running).search(stdout)
  if not match:
    #the service is down, attempt restart
    restart_cmd = "/etc/init.d/nmb start"
    subprocess.Popen(restart_cmd, shell=True, stdout=subprocess.PIPE, stderr=subprocess.PIPE)
    #increament on the counter, use it as a check to avoid an infinite recursive loop
    counter += 1
    print counter
    if counter == 5:
      #we've tried five times restarting this service, it probably needs manual restating
      #inform the admins
      print "nmb daemon is down"
      return "nmb down"
    check_nmb_daemon(counter)
  else:
    print "nmb daemon is up"
    return "nmb up"

response  = check_nmb_daemon()
print "response is %s" % response
if response != "nmb up":
  #either the remote command failed
  if response == "cmd failed":
     email_msg = "command that checks for the nmb daemon failed to execute. check it out"
  else:
    email_msg = "i tried to restart the service 5 times, untill i gave up. do it manually"
  send_email(email_msg)