<article lang="&language;" id="rdate">
<title>rdate</title>

<para>
A protocol to retrieve the date and time from a time server.
</para>
<para>
It will query a URL of an RFC 868 time server.
</para>
<para>
        rdate://servername
</para>
<para>
And return a date in the format of:
</para>
<para>
        DDD MMM DD HH:MM:SS YYYY
</para>
<para>
Network operations require time synchronized information
to ensure optimal network performance.
</para>
<para>

Computer clocks are notorious for drifting. So it's a very good idea to set up time synchronization. You will need root privileges to do this.

</para>

<para> See the manual: <ulink url="man:/date">date</ulink>
and <ulink url="man:/netdate">netdate</ulink>.
</para>

<para> See : <ulink url="http://www.eecis.udel.edu/~ntp"> Time Synchronization Server </ulink>.
</para>

</article>
