System Time and Date

You can set the system time and date, using the shell date command or the Red Hat GUI tool redhat-config-date. You probably set the time and date when you first installed your system. You should not need to do so again. If you entered the time incorrectly or moved to a different time zone, though, you could use this utility to change your time.

Using the redhat-config-date Utility

The preferred way to set the system time and date is to use the Red Hat Date and Time Properties utility (redhat-config-date). Select it on the System Settings window accessible from the Start Here window. There are two panels, one for the date and time and one for the time zone (see Figure 27-1). Use the calendar to select the year, month, and date. Then use the Time box to set the hour, minute, and second. The Time Zone panel shows a map with locations. Select the one nearest you to set your time zone.

Figure 27-1: redhat-config-date, Date & Time tool

Red Hat also supports the Network Time Protocol (NTP), which allow a remote server to set the date and time. NTP allows for the most accurate synchronization of your system's clock. It is often used to manage the time and date for networked systems, freeing the administrator from having to synchronize clocks manually. The date and time is obtained from an NTP server. Your network may have its own, or you can use one of the public NTP servers listed at www.ntp.org. You can also download current documentation and NTP software from the www.ntp.org site.

Using the date Command

You can also use the date command on your root user command line to set the date and time for the system. As an argument to date, you list (with no delimiters) the month, day, time, and year. In the next example, the date is set to 2:59 P.M., April 6, 2003 (04 for April, 06 for the day, 1459 for the time, and 03 for the year 2003):

# date 0406145903
Sun Mar 6 02:59:27 PST 2003

Note

You can also set the time and date with the Date & Time tool in the KDE Control Center.