Rdate

The correct title of this article is rdate. The initial letter is capitalized due to technical restrictions.

rdate is a TCP/IP command used to retrieve the date and time from a host or hosts on the network and optionally set the local system time.

Usage

rdate [options] [host...]

Options

-l 

Send errors and output to syslogd.

-p 

Print the retrieved dates.

-s 

Set the local system time from the host; must be specified by root.

-t n 

Timeout each retrieval attempt after n seconds.

-u 

Use UDP instead of TCP.

Example

• e.g. add the following to a file in your /etc/cron.hourly/ dir (after choosing an NTP):

/usr/bin/rdate -s time.nist.gov   # or, "time.u.washington.edu", etc.

External links

• openrdate