rs client and bgp soft reload out

Hi guys, I have 2 BGP related questions that would like to confirm with you guys: 1. Can we run the route server without setting "rs client" BGP configuration in each client? I can bring up the eBGP as well without that setting in place. 2. Birdc reload out "protocol_name" command will do soft reload on the exported routes to that particular neighbour. However this will reset the uptime. Any idea whether we can keep the uptime? It is very worrying while doing the troubleshooting if the uptime is not reflecting the correct uptime. Thanks, Jimmy