+8Hi,
I want to set multiple time servers (NTP) for my Macs, so that if one of them goes down or shows the wrong time the clients automatically switch to another one. Unfortunately this seems not possible out of the box. Does anyone have experience with this and can point me in the right direction?
+16You can create a custom plist and upload that as your time server configuration. The domain is
com.apple.MCXand your plist would be along the lines of
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>timeServer</key>
<string>time.apple.com,time2.apple.com,time3.apple.com</string>
</dict>
</plist>
+8But isnt the time server configuration in /private/etc/ntp.conf ? I already have multiple servers listed there, but it only uses the first one. I already asked apple about this and they say that it is only possible to have one single time server at the same time configured.
+16You can create a custom plist and upload that as your time server configuration. The domain is
com.apple.MCXand your plist would be along the lines of
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
<key>timeServer</key>
<string>time.apple.com,time2.apple.com,time3.apple.com</string>
</dict>
</plist>
And after I posted this, I went and checked. No longer supported. What’s odd is that Apple Professional services is the group that had originally provided that key to me.
https://developer.apple.com/documentation/devicemanagement/timeserver
In macOS 10.13 and later, only one time server is supported.
+16So checking my local system, which does have my time server profile. System Settings only shows our first entry, as well as -getnetworktimeserver reports the same. ntp.conf does show all the domains pushed by my profile.
Last login: Thu Jan 15 06:54:27 on console
ed_c@WorkComputer ~ % sudo systemsetup -getnetworktimeserver
Network Time Server: domain.net
ed_c@WorkComputer ~ % /bin/cat /etc/ntp.conf
server domain.net
server ntp-time-01.domain.net
server ntp-time-02.domain.net
server ntp-time-03.domain.net
server ntp-time-04.domain.net
server time.apple.com
ed_c@WorkComputer ~ % As you mentioned Apple’s comment, I suspect it doesn't read past the first entry any more. I recall it used to. You may be out of luck.
Enter your E-mail address. We'll send you an e-mail with instructions to reset your password.