If you’re trying to configure NTP on the VMware vCenter Server Appliance (vCSA) 5.1 builds 799730, 880472, or 947940 according to the official documentation you might be seeing what I’m seeing:
vcenter:~ # yast2 ntp-client add server=0.us.pool.ntp.org Error: Cannot update the dynamic configuration policy.
vcenter:~ # yast2 ntp-client enable Error: Cannot update the dynamic configuration policy.
This appears to be a SuSE bug. Seems serious but it isn’t, the commands actually do complete correctly. If you want to check the work just use the command:
cat /etc/ntp.conf
to check for lines starting with “server” near the bottom.
/sbin/chkconfig ntp on
will enable the service at boot, and
/etc/rc.d/ntp start
will start it immediately if it isn’t started.
/usr/sbin/ntpq -p
will display the NTP daemon’s peers, which are the servers you defined. If you’re using a pool.ntp.org address expect to see the real hostname of the NTP server you’re connecting to, as well as that server’s upstream source as the refid. A prefacing “+” means ntpd is using that source in its calculations, a “-” means that it’s been rejected (often too much jitter), and a “*” means it’s the “system peer” or the best source available at the moment.
What NTP appliance are you using? Or, have you just installed the NTP service onto a standard distribution.
It’s NTP that’s running on the vCenter appliance VM, that’s all.