Help with date and redhat 9

[Adam Myrow]

You don't use date to set the time from a time server.  The date command
is only for manually setting the date.  There are several ways to set the
time from a remote server.  Some commands include netdate, rdate, and
ntpdate.  If you have it, ntpdate is the most accurate.  You can pass it
multiple servers, and it will pick the best one.  If you are really into
time, you could have ntpd running all the time to actually adjust the
speed of the clock within Linux so that it stays within a few MS of the
correct time.  For a good list of time servers, go to
http://www.eecis.udel.edu/~mills/ntp/servers.html and find several near
you with open access.  Then, assuming you have ntpdate available, you
could try "ntpdate server."  For example, "ntpdate time.nist.gov
time-b.nist.gov" would ask ntpdate to get the time from two of the NIST
servers and pick the one it thinks is the most accurate and set your clock
to it.  Hope this helps.