Troubleshooting User Authentication Issues

This topic describes problems that can occur when authenticating users. To resolve the problem, look for it in the list of Symptoms or Error Messages in Table 10-1.

Table 10-1 Troubleshooting User Authentication Issues

Symptom or Error Message	Diagnostic Steps or Cause	Solution
User is unable to access the Administration - Server Configuration or Administration - Server Management screen. If the Siebel system is configured to use the Siebel Audit Trail feature, then problems running audit trail occur.	This problem can occur when using external authentication, either Web SSO or Siebel security adapter authentication. The server administration component performs its own authentication by verifying that the Siebel user ID it gets from the Application Object Manager is the user name for a database account. An external authentication system returns the user's Siebel user ID and, typically, a database account used by many users from a Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP) or Active Directory Service Interfaces (ADSI) directory.	Use database authentication instead of external authentication for administration users. Administrator users must log into the application using either a different Application Object Manager or a Siebel Developer Web Client; in each case, database authentication must be configured. For more information about database authentication, see "About Database Authentication" and related sections. Alternatively, authentication for a secondary data source such as the Siebel Gateway Name Server can be configured.
Adding users or changing passwords is not reflected in the directory.	The PropagateChange parameter is set to FALSE for the security adapter.	Set the PropagateChange parameter to TRUE for the security adapter. For more information, see "Siebel Gateway Name Server Parameters".
Responsibilities in the directory conflict with responsibilities in Siebel Business Applications.	User responsibilities are assigned in the directory and in Siebel Business Applications.	It is recommended that you assign user responsibilities in the directory or by using Siebel Business Applications, but not both. For more information, see "Configuring Roles Defined in the Directory".
Upgrading Siebel Business Applications appears to disable Checksum validation.	A security adapter's CRC checksum value must be recalculated whenever you upgrade Siebel Business Applications.	Recalculate the security adapter's CRC checksum value when you upgrade Siebel Business Applications. For information, see "Configuring Checksum Validation".
The following error message appears in the application log file: Web authentication failed	If your installation is configured for Web SSO (without anonymous browsing) and the ProtectedVirtualDirectory parameter is not set, then this message can appear.	Set the ProtectedVirtualDirectory parameter in the eapps.cfg file to the same value as the application directory. For example: [/eSales] ProtectedVirtualDirectory=/eSales