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Network Time Protocol

Network Services

Network Time Protocol

Network Time Protocol (NTP) is used to keep a computer's internal clock synchronized with a central source. Having accurate time is critical for researchers and for system administration. NUIT provides NTP service for users on campus at time.northwestern.edu.

All modern operating systems can use NTP. Most of these systems, including Windows XP and Mac OS X, come pre-configured with an NTP server with which to synchronize. In most cases, there is no reason to change the pre-configured NTP server, and no modifications are required for your computer to have accurate time.

For those computers that do not come pre-configured with an NTP server for synchronization, such as some computers using the Linux operating system, NUIT recommends using the Northwestern time server. This server should also be used for critical and administrative systems.

Unicast NTP for time synchronization is the only protocol supported at Northwestern. Be advised that if you use multicast NTP, there is no mechanism to verify the authenticity of the source, and therefore no guarantee a client is connecting to the University's central time server. Use of multicast NTP is at your own risk, as is neither supported nor recommended by NUIT.

Configure NTP

Configure a Windows operating system to synchronize to time.northwestern.edu:

  1. Open Control Panel.
  2. Open Date and Time.
  3. Select the Internet Time tab.
  4. Add time.northwestern.edu.
    5. Internet Time Tab

    Windows Control Panel Internet Time tab.

Configure a Macintosh computer to synchronize to time.northwestern.edu:

  1. Open System Preferences.
  2. Open Date & Time.
  3. Add time.northwestern.edu to the Set date & time automatically list.
    4. Apple Mail Preferences-Account Information Tab (IMAP)

    Macintosh Date & Time panel.

Configure a Linux system to synchronize to time.northwestern.edu:

  1. In most cases, you need to add the following to /etc/ntp.conf.
  2. Server time.northwestern.edu prefer.
  3. Consult the relevant man pages for more information. Please note that NTP on Linux is not officially supported by NUIT and we are unable to provide additional NTP configuration support.

Last Updated: 26 June 2007