diff --git a/nixos/modules/services/networking/ntp/ntpd-rs.nix b/nixos/modules/services/networking/ntp/ntpd-rs.nix
index 557bf05fbc42..14287ded9abf 100644
--- a/nixos/modules/services/networking/ntp/ntpd-rs.nix
+++ b/nixos/modules/services/networking/ntp/ntpd-rs.nix
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ in
       };
       source = lib.mkIf cfg.useNetworkingTimeServers (
         map (ts: {
-          mode = "server";
+          mode = if lib.strings.hasInfix "pool" ts then "pool" else "server";
           address = ts;
         }) config.networking.timeServers
       );
diff --git a/nixos/tests/ntpd-rs.nix b/nixos/tests/ntpd-rs.nix
index 2907c7558324..9459a9f4ac51 100644
--- a/nixos/tests/ntpd-rs.nix
+++ b/nixos/tests/ntpd-rs.nix
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ import ./make-test-python.nix (
       client = {
         services.ntpd-rs = {
           enable = true;
-          metrics.enable = true;
+          metrics.enable = false;
           useNetworkingTimeServers = false;
           settings = {
             source = [
@@ -27,11 +27,22 @@ import ./make-test-python.nix (
         };
       };
       server = {
-        networking.firewall.allowedUDPPorts = [ 123 ];
+        networking.firewall = {
+          allowedTCPPorts = [
+            9975
+          ];
+          allowedUDPPorts = [
+            123
+          ];
+        };
+
         services.ntpd-rs = {
           enable = true;
           metrics.enable = true;
           settings = {
+            observability = {
+              metrics-exporter-listen = "[::]:9975";
+            };
             server = [
               { listen = "[::]:123"; }
             ];
@@ -48,8 +59,19 @@ import ./make-test-python.nix (
         for machine in (server, client):
           machine.wait_for_unit('multi-user.target')
           machine.succeed('systemctl is-active ntpd-rs.service')
-          machine.succeed('systemctl is-active ntpd-rs-metrics.service')
-          machine.succeed('curl http://localhost:9975/metrics | grep ntp_uptime_seconds')
+
+        client.fail('systemctl is-active ntpd-rs-metrics.service')
+        server.succeed('systemctl is-active ntpd-rs-metrics.service')
+
+        server.wait_for_open_port(9975)
+        client.succeed('curl http://server:9975/metrics | grep ntp_uptime_seconds')
+        server.fail('curl --fail --connect-timeout 2 http://client:9975/metrics | grep ntp_uptime_seconds')
+
+        client.succeed("ntp-ctl status | grep server:123")
+        server.succeed("ntp-ctl status | grep '\[::\]:123'")
+
+        client.succeed("grep '^mode = \"server\"' $(systemctl status ntpd-rs | grep -oE '/nix/store[^ ]*ntpd-rs.toml')")
+        server.succeed("grep '^mode = \"pool\"' $(systemctl status ntpd-rs | grep -oE '/nix/store[^ ]*ntpd-rs.toml')")
       '';
   }
 )