10.04 LTS Server - setting the clock

[william drescher]

I thought when I set up the server I asked it to check with a 
time server periodically, but now it is 5 minutes ahead.
I found the date command, but can't figure out the format for the 
new time string:
eg: sudo date -sXXXXXXXXXXX

The docs say human readable free format but
sudo date -s=2011-10-20 10:07

gets the reply:
date: the argument '10.07' lacks a leading '+';
when using  an option to specify date(s), any non-option argument 
must be a format string beginning with '+'

What is the command to set the time from a time server ?

How do I ask the system to do this periodically ?

Thanks in advance,

bill