Setting up a time server (RFC 868)

This blog entry explains how to configure a time server as defined in RFC 868. not to be confused with NTP which is a newer protocol.

This type of server is to be used with rdate as you’ll see below.

Edit/ etc/xinetd.d/time and set disable = no.
Make sure the lines below are present and uncommented in /etc/services
time            37/tcp          timserver
time            37/udp          timserver

restart xinetd: /etc/rc.d/init.d/xinetd restart

The time server will be started automatically each time the PC boots up.

To test the time server, in your device use rdate (part of busybox):
To set the date: rdate -s IP_ADRESS_OF_TIME_SERVER
To print the date in the console: rdate -p IP_ADRESS_OF_TIME_SERVER

Check the date by typing date

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