how to set date and time to automatic using a configuration profile

[jamfgeorg]

Hello all, I was having trouble setting the date and time automaticaly for jamf pro, i cant seem to find an option for in the config profile is there something im missing?

[mschlosser]

regarding issues like this; i haven't used a configuration profile for this, instead, i've used a policy, be sure to pass your preferred nap server to the policy as $4; hope that helps.

#!/bin/bash

#--------------------------------------------------------
# Set the Mac timezone & timeservers
#--------------------------------------------------------

# Set the timezone
systemsetup -settimezone "$4"

# Set the timezone to regions internal time server
/usr/sbin/systemsetup -setnetworktimeserver "$NTPServer"
/usr/sbin/systemsetup -setusingnetworktime on

# The below command will list all available timezones
# systemsetup -listtimezones
 exit 0

M

[jamfgeorg]

thank you for the information, i was wondering where you input this policy as im new to jamf and haven't done much in that section

[Nicholaus]

If you want to implement a script via Policy in Jamf:

1. Navigate to Settings > Computer Management > Scripts > New

2. Enter the name and category for the Script

3. Click on the Script tab and copy/paste the code from mschlosser and click save

4. Create a new Policy from Computers > Policies > New

5. Name the policy, assign a category and set the trigger/execution frequency

6. Click on Scipts > Configure > Select the script you saved before

7. Click on Scope and set it to whichever group/device you want to test it on and click save

[mschlosser]

policies can be created via after logging into jamf. computers-policies; i think from there you can run the script and scope it to the groups or machines that you after. here's a bit better version of script after thinking about it

#!/bin/bash

#--------------------------------------------------------
# Set the Mac timezone & timeservers
#--------------------------------------------------------
NTPServer="$5"
# Set the timezone
systemsetup -settimezone "$4"

# Set the timezone to regions internal time server
/usr/sbin/systemsetup -setnetworktimeserver "$NTPServer"
/usr/sbin/systemsetup -setusingnetworktime on

# The below command will list all available timezones
# systemsetup -listtimezones
 exit 0

the ext variables can be passed to the script after selecting it in the policy guide.

M

[mm2270]

Some of this can be configured/set in a profile. For example, to set a timeserver for synchronization, you can use the com.apple.MCX domain to set a timeServer key with the value you want it set to.

I'm using the following custom schema within an Applications & Custom Settings payload in Jamf Pro. It let's you add 2 properties - timeserver and timezone.

{
  "title": "macOS Time (com.apple.MCX)",
  "description": "Manageable macOS time settings https://developer.apple.com/business/documentation/Configuration-Profile-Reference.pdf",
  "__original_creator": "bill@talkingmoose.net",
  "__adapted_by": "mm2270@icloud.com to include a selectable list of time zones.",
  "properties": {
    "timeServer": {
      "title": "Time Server",
      "description": "The ntp server to connect to. Availability: macOS 10.12.4 and later.",
      "property_order": 5,
      "default": "time.apple.com",
      "type": "string"
    },
    "timeZone": {
      "title": "Time Zone",
      "description": "Time zone location. Choose the closest representation of the desired time zone from the list. Availability: macOS 10.12.4 and later.",
      "property_order": 10,
      "type": "string",
      "default": "America/New_York",
      "enum": [
        "Africa/Abidjan",
        "Africa/Accra",
        "Africa/Addis_Ababa",
        "Africa/Algiers",
        "Africa/Asmara",
        "Africa/Bamako",
        "Africa/Bangui",
        "Africa/Banjul",
        "Africa/Bissau",
        "Africa/Blantyre",
        "Africa/Brazzaville",
        "Africa/Bujumbura",
        "Africa/Cairo",
        "Africa/Casablanca",
        "Africa/Ceuta",
        "Africa/Conakry",
        "Africa/Dakar",
        "Africa/Dar_es_Salaam",
        "Africa/Djibouti",
        "Africa/Douala",
        "Africa/El_Aaiun",
        "Africa/Freetown",
        "Africa/Gaborone",
        "Africa/Harare",
        "Africa/Johannesburg",
        "Africa/Juba",
        "Africa/Kampala",
        "Africa/Khartoum",
        "Africa/Kigali",
        "Africa/Kinshasa",
        "Africa/Lagos",
        "Africa/Libreville",
        "Africa/Lome",
        "Africa/Luanda",
        "Africa/Lubumbashi",
        "Africa/Lusaka",
        "Africa/Malabo",
        "Africa/Maputo",
        "Africa/Maseru",
        "Africa/Mbabane",
        "Africa/Mogadishu",
        "Africa/Monrovia",
        "Africa/Nairobi",
        "Africa/Ndjamena",
        "Africa/Niamey",
        "Africa/Nouakchott",
        "Africa/Ouagadougou",
        "Africa/Porto-Novo",
        "Africa/Sao_Tome",
        "Africa/Tripoli",
        "Africa/Tunis",
        "Africa/Windhoek",
        "America/Adak",
        "America/Anchorage",
        "America/Anguilla",
        "America/Antigua",
        "America/Araguaina",
        "America/Argentina/Buenos_Aires",
        "America/Argentina/Catamarca",
        "America/Argentina/Cordoba",
        "America/Argentina/Jujuy",
        "America/Argentina/La_Rioja",
        "America/Argentina/Mendoza",
        "America/Argentina/Rio_Gallegos",
        "America/Argentina/Salta",
        "America/Argentina/San_Juan",
        "America/Argentina/San_Luis",
        "America/Argentina/Tucuman",
        "America/Argentina/Ushuaia",
        "America/Aruba",
        "America/Asuncion",
        "America/Atikokan",
        "America/Bahia",
        "America/Bahia_Banderas",
        "America/Barbados",
        "America/Belem",
        "America/Belize",
        "America/Blanc-Sablon",
        "America/Boa_Vista",
        "America/Bogota",
        "America/Boise",
        "America/Cambridge_Bay",
        "America/Campo_Grande",
        "America/Cancun",
        "America/Caracas",
        "America/Cayenne",
        "America/Cayman",
        "America/Chicago",
        "America/Chihuahua",
        "America/Costa_Rica",
        "America/Creston",
        "America/Cuiaba",
        "America/Curacao",
        "America/Danmarkshavn",
        "America/Dawson",
        "America/Dawson_Creek",
        "America/Denver",
        "America/Detroit",
        "America/Dominica",
        "America/Edmonton",
        "America/Eirunepe",
        "America/El_Salvador",
        "America/Fort_Nelson",
        "America/Fortaleza",
        "America/Glace_Bay",
        "America/Godthab",
        "America/Goose_Bay",
        "America/Grand_Turk",
        "America/Grenada",
        "America/Guadeloupe",
        "America/Guatemala",
        "America/Guayaquil",
        "America/Guyana",
        "America/Halifax",
        "America/Havana",
        "America/Hermosillo",
        "America/Indiana/Indianapolis",
        "America/Indiana/Knox",
        "America/Indiana/Marengo",
        "America/Indiana/Petersburg",
        "America/Indiana/Tell_City",
        "America/Indiana/Vevay",
        "America/Indiana/Vincennes",
        "America/Indiana/Winamac",
        "America/Inuvik",
        "America/Iqaluit",
        "America/Jamaica",
        "America/Juneau",
        "America/Kentucky/Louisville",
        "America/Kentucky/Monticello",
        "America/Kralendijk",
        "America/La_Paz",
        "America/Lima",
        "America/Los_Angeles",
        "America/Lower_Princes",
        "America/Maceio",
        "America/Managua",
        "America/Manaus",
        "America/Marigot",
        "America/Martinique",
        "America/Matamoros",
        "America/Mazatlan",
        "America/Menominee",
        "America/Merida",
        "America/Metlakatla",
        "America/Mexico_City",
        "America/Miquelon",
        "America/Moncton",
        "America/Monterrey",
        "America/Montevideo",
        "America/Montreal",
        "America/Montserrat",
        "America/Nassau",
        "America/New_York",
        "America/Nipigon",
        "America/Nome",
        "America/Noronha",
        "America/North_Dakota/Beulah",
        "America/North_Dakota/Center",
        "America/North_Dakota/New_Salem",
        "America/Nuuk",
        "America/Ojinaga",
        "America/Panama",
        "America/Pangnirtung",
        "America/Paramaribo",
        "America/Phoenix",
        "America/Port-au-Prince",
        "America/Port_of_Spain",
        "America/Porto_Velho",
        "America/Puerto_Rico",
        "America/Punta_Arenas",
        "America/Rainy_River",
        "America/Rankin_Inlet",
        "America/Recife",
        "America/Regina",
        "America/Resolute",
        "America/Rio_Branco",
        "America/Santa_Isabel",
        "America/Santarem",
        "America/Santiago",
        "America/Santo_Domingo",
        "America/Sao_Paulo",
        "America/Scoresbysund",
        "America/Shiprock",
        "America/Sitka",
        "America/St_Barthelemy",
        "America/St_Johns",
        "America/St_Kitts",
        "America/St_Lucia",
        "America/St_Thomas",
        "America/St_Vincent",
        "America/Swift_Current",
        "America/Tegucigalpa",
        "America/Thule",
        "America/Thunder_Bay",
        "America/Tijuana",
        "America/Toronto",
        "America/Tortola",
        "America/Vancouver",
        "America/Whitehorse",
        "America/Winnipeg",
        "America/Yakutat",
        "America/Yellowknife",
        "Antarctica/Casey",
        "Antarctica/Davis",
        "Antarctica/DumontDUrville",
        "Antarctica/Macquarie",
        "Antarctica/Mawson",
        "Antarctica/McMurdo",
        "Antarctica/Palmer",
        "Antarctica/Rothera",
        "Antarctica/South_Pole",
        "Antarctica/Syowa",
        "Antarctica/Troll",
        "Antarctica/Vostok",
        "Arctic/Longyearbyen",
        "Asia/Aden",
        "Asia/Almaty",
        "Asia/Amman",
        "Asia/Anadyr",
        "Asia/Aqtau",
        "Asia/Aqtobe",
        "Asia/Ashgabat",
        "Asia/Atyrau",
        "Asia/Baghdad",
        "Asia/Bahrain",
        "Asia/Baku",
        "Asia/Bangkok",
        "Asia/Barnaul",
        "Asia/Beirut",
        "Asia/Bishkek",
        "Asia/Brunei",
        "Asia/Calcutta",
        "Asia/Chita",
        "Asia/Choibalsan",
        "Asia/Chongqing",
        "Asia/Colombo",
        "Asia/Damascus",
        "Asia/Dhaka",
        "Asia/Dili",
        "Asia/Dubai",
        "Asia/Dushanbe",
        "Asia/Famagusta",
        "Asia/Gaza",
        "Asia/Harbin",
        "Asia/Hebron",
        "Asia/Ho_Chi_Minh",
        "Asia/Hong_Kong",
        "Asia/Hovd",
        "Asia/Irkutsk",
        "Asia/Jakarta",
        "Asia/Jayapura",
        "Asia/Jerusalem",
        "Asia/Kabul",
        "Asia/Kamchatka",
        "Asia/Karachi",
        "Asia/Kashgar",
        "Asia/Kathmandu",
        "Asia/Katmandu",
        "Asia/Khandyga",
        "Asia/Krasnoyarsk",
        "Asia/Kuala_Lumpur",
        "Asia/Kuching",
        "Asia/Kuwait",
        "Asia/Macau",
        "Asia/Magadan",
        "Asia/Makassar",
        "Asia/Manila",
        "Asia/Muscat",
        "Asia/Nicosia",
        "Asia/Novokuznetsk",
        "Asia/Novosibirsk",
        "Asia/Omsk",
        "Asia/Oral",
        "Asia/Phnom_Penh",
        "Asia/Pontianak",
        "Asia/Pyongyang",
        "Asia/Qatar",
        "Asia/Qostanay",
        "Asia/Qyzylorda",
        "Asia/Rangoon",
        "Asia/Riyadh",
        "Asia/Sakhalin",
        "Asia/Samarkand",
        "Asia/Seoul",
        "Asia/Shanghai",
        "Asia/Singapore",
        "Asia/Srednekolymsk",
        "Asia/Taipei",
        "Asia/Tashkent",
        "Asia/Tbilisi",
        "Asia/Tehran",
        "Asia/Thimphu",
        "Asia/Tokyo",
        "Asia/Tomsk",
        "Asia/Ulaanbaatar",
        "Asia/Urumqi",
        "Asia/Ust-Nera",
        "Asia/Vientiane",
        "Asia/Vladivostok",
        "Asia/Yakutsk",
        "Asia/Yangon",
        "Asia/Yekaterinburg",
        "Asia/Yerevan",
        "Atlantic/Azores",
        "Atlantic/Bermuda",
        "Atlantic/Canary",
        "Atlantic/Cape_Verde",
        "Atlantic/Faroe",
        "Atlantic/Madeira",
        "Atlantic/Reykjavik",
        "Atlantic/South_Georgia",
        "Atlantic/St_Helena",
        "Atlantic/Stanley",
        "Australia/Adelaide",
        "Australia/Brisbane",
        "Australia/Broken_Hill",
        "Australia/Currie",
        "Australia/Darwin",
        "Australia/Eucla",
        "Australia/Hobart",
        "Australia/Lindeman",
        "Australia/Lord_Howe",
        "Australia/Melbourne",
        "Australia/Perth",
        "Australia/Sydney",
        "Europe/Amsterdam",
        "Europe/Andorra",
        "Europe/Astrakhan",
        "Europe/Athens",
        "Europe/Belgrade",
        "Europe/Berlin",
        "Europe/Bratislava",
        "Europe/Brussels",
        "Europe/Bucharest",
        "Europe/Budapest",
        "Europe/Busingen",
        "Europe/Chisinau",
        "Europe/Copenhagen",
        "Europe/Dublin",
        "Europe/Gibraltar",
        "Europe/Guernsey",
        "Europe/Helsinki",
        "Europe/Isle_of_Man",
        "Europe/Istanbul",
        "Europe/Jersey",
        "Europe/Kaliningrad",
        "Europe/Kiev",
        "Europe/Kirov",
        "Europe/Lisbon",
        "Europe/Ljubljana",
        "Europe/London",
        "Europe/Luxembourg",
        "Europe/Madrid",
        "Europe/Malta",
        "Europe/Mariehamn",
        "Europe/Minsk",
        "Europe/Monaco",
        "Europe/Moscow",
        "Europe/Oslo",
        "Europe/Paris",
        "Europe/Podgorica",
        "Europe/Prague",
        "Europe/Riga",
        "Europe/Rome",
        "Europe/Samara",
        "Europe/San_Marino",
        "Europe/Sarajevo",
        "Europe/Saratov",
        "Europe/Simferopol",
        "Europe/Skopje",
        "Europe/Sofia",
        "Europe/Stockholm",
        "Europe/Tallinn",
        "Europe/Tirane",
        "Europe/Ulyanovsk",
        "Europe/Uzhgorod",
        "Europe/Vaduz",
        "Europe/Vatican",
        "Europe/Vienna",
        "Europe/Vilnius",
        "Europe/Volgograd",
        "Europe/Warsaw",
        "Europe/Zagreb",
        "Europe/Zaporozhye",
        "Europe/Zurich",
        "GMT",
        "Indian/Antananarivo",
        "Indian/Chagos",
        "Indian/Christmas",
        "Indian/Cocos",
        "Indian/Comoro",
        "Indian/Kerguelen",
        "Indian/Mahe",
        "Indian/Maldives",
        "Indian/Mauritius",
        "Indian/Mayotte",
        "Indian/Reunion",
        "Pacific/Apia",
        "Pacific/Auckland",
        "Pacific/Bougainville",
        "Pacific/Chatham",
        "Pacific/Chuuk",
        "Pacific/Easter",
        "Pacific/Efate",
        "Pacific/Enderbury",
        "Pacific/Fakaofo",
        "Pacific/Fiji",
        "Pacific/Funafuti",
        "Pacific/Galapagos",
        "Pacific/Gambier",
        "Pacific/Guadalcanal",
        "Pacific/Guam",
        "Pacific/Honolulu",
        "Pacific/Johnston",
        "Pacific/Kiritimati",
        "Pacific/Kosrae",
        "Pacific/Kwajalein",
        "Pacific/Majuro",
        "Pacific/Marquesas",
        "Pacific/Midway",
        "Pacific/Nauru",
        "Pacific/Niue",
        "Pacific/Norfolk",
        "Pacific/Noumea",
        "Pacific/Pago_Pago",
        "Pacific/Palau",
        "Pacific/Pitcairn",
        "Pacific/Pohnpei",
        "Pacific/Ponape",
        "Pacific/Port_Moresby",
        "Pacific/Rarotonga",
        "Pacific/Saipan",
        "Pacific/Tahiti",
        "Pacific/Tarawa",
        "Pacific/Tongatapu",
        "Pacific/Truk",
        "Pacific/Wake",
        "Pacific/Wallis"
      ]
    }
  }
}

[easyedc]

You can also do it via XML format - same domain to apply to - com.apple.MCX

<?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> com.company.application,my.domain,time.org,time.apple.com</string>
</dict>
</plist>

[jamfgeorg]

sorry about this i think there may have been some confusion I just wanted to find a way to make a policy/ profile that turns the "Set time and Date Automaticaly" setting toggle on

[easyedc]

I haven't done that in years, and probably for good reason, but if you want to enable any user to toggle it, then some variant of this would probably work.

#!/bin/sh

security authorizationdb write system.preferences allow
security authorizationdb write system.preferences.datetime allow

exit 0

But I have to ask - why do you want users to be able to adjust time servers? 

[easyedc]

Or are you trying to enforce it?  Deploying a profile pointing to a time server, even if it's just Apple's, will force it on:

[pinsent]

Not really. Deploying a profile will lock down the current state of that toggle. If someone decided they didn't want the time and date set automatically then it would remain that way once the profile gets pushed

[Grisha]

Hi,

Could you please tell me how to create a profile to enforce the "Set date and time automatically" setting for users on macOS devices using Jamf Pro? I need this setting to be automatically enabled and not changeable by users.

Thank you!