# The HEADER message part

This section describes the `HEADER` message part of a syslog message, according to the [legacy-syslog or BSD-syslog protocol](<https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/rfc3164/>).

For further details about the `MSG` and `PRI` parts of a syslog message, see the following sections:

  * [MSG](../../../../docs/axosyslog-core/chapter-concepts/concepts-message-structure/concepts-message-bsdsyslog/concepts-message-bsdsyslog-msg/index.md)

  * [PRI](../../../../docs/axosyslog-core/chapter-concepts/concepts-message-structure/concepts-message-bsdsyslog/concepts-message-bsdsyslog-pri/index.md)




## The HEADER message part

The `HEADER` message part contains a timestamp and the hostname (without the domain name) or the IP address of the device. The timestamp field is the local time in the _Mmm dd hh:mm:ss_ format, where:

  * _Mmm_ is the English abbreviation of the month: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec.

  * _dd_ is the day of the month on two digits. If the day of the month is less than 10, the first digit is replaced with a space. (for example, _Aug 7_.)

  * _hh:mm:ss_ is the local time. The hour (hh) is represented in a 24-hour format. Valid entries are between 00 and 23, inclusive. The minute (mm) and second (ss) entries are between 00 and 59 inclusive.




Note The AxoSyslog application supports other timestamp formats as well, like ISO, or the PIX extended format. For details, see the `ts-format()` option in [Global options reference](../../../../docs/axosyslog-core/chapter-global-options/reference-options/index.md). 

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