Don Richards (Mar 28 2024 at 18:24): Don Richards (Mar 28 2024 at 18:24):Our institution is updating its Shibboleth servers and requiring us to point to their new server. The issue I'm encountering involves it now asking existing users to create a new account, which then leads to an error message when they attempt to do so:
"Error – Couldn't create user. If you believe this is an error, please contact...."
Screenshot-from-2024-03-28-14-20-44.png
This outcome seems logical since the user already exists.
I suspect the problem may lie with the "persistentUserId" that contains the old Shibboleth URL along with the user's email address. Is there a method to correct or update this?
Philip Durbin 🚀 (Mar 28 2024 at 19:02):Yes, but you have to hack on the database.
Philip Durbin 🚀 (Mar 28 2024 at 19:03):Please look at the persistentuserid column in the authenticateduserlookup table: https://guides.dataverse.org/en/5.14/schemaspy/tables/authenticateduserlookup.html
Don Richards (Mar 28 2024 at 19:08):So it's basically a "find and replace" approach from the look of it.
Philip Durbin 🚀 (Mar 28 2024 at 19:09):Yeah. If you'd like an API for this, please feel free to create an issue.
Philip Durbin 🚀 (Mar 28 2024 at 19:14):Realistically, this would be for the next person who needs it, of course. :sweat_smile:
Philip Durbin 🚀 (Mar 28 2024 at 19:55):Thanks for opening this! API Endpoint for Updating persistentUserId #10446
Don Sizemore (Apr 01 2024 at 14:29):@Philip Durbin I'm gonna need it sooner than later!
Philip Durbin 🚀 (Apr 01 2024 at 14:32):Yeah, good it get it in the queue, at least. It happens, IdP entityIds changing, unfortunately.
Philip Durbin 🚀 (Jul 31 2024 at 20:27):Another example: #troubleshooting > Switching SAML IDP servers, should it be seamless?
Last updated: Oct 30 2025 at 06:21 UTC