Loading...
TIME Protocol
The TIME protocol is a simple network service used to synchronize computer clocks by providing the current time in a standardized format. Designed primarily for legacy systems, it transmits the number of seconds elapsed since midnight on January 1, 1900. While functional, TIME is largely superseded by more sophisticated protocols like NTP and is seldom used in modern networks..
The TIME protocol, defined in RFC 868, is a basic network service intended to provide a machine-readable timestamp. When a client connects, the server responds with a 32-bit unsigned integer representing the number of seconds that have elapsed since 00:00 (midnight) on January 1, 1900, GMT. This facilitates simple synchronization of the client's clock with that of the server.
It operates over both TCP and UDP on port 37. For TCP, the client initiates a connection and reads the 4-byte time response from the server before closing the connection. With UDP, the client sends a datagram, and the server responds with the timestamp in a 4-byte UDP packet.
Due to its minimal implementation, TIME lacks features such as error correction, latency compensation, or authentication. Consequently, modern systems favor Network Time Protocol (NTP), which provides greater accuracy and resilience.