DB ping

As far as I can see, with Zend_Db the actual connection to the DB 
happens not when cerating the DB object but when using fetch() or 
similar thing. Is there a way to "ping" the database to make it connect 
and be sure DB parameters are OK? _connect doesn't work since it's 
protected.
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Stanislav Malyshev, Zend Products Engineer
stas-C1q0ot2/XZ0@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  http://www.zend.com/