Unable to create user - A user with that web login already exists

Problem

When trying to create a user account via sync, the API or a user import, the system reports that the user ID or target name is already in use. For example, you might see a message similar to:

ERROR: <userid>- Method failed with code 409 - Message: A user with web login <userid> already exists

However, when searching the system, no user is visibly using that user ID.

Environment

All xMatters versions

xMatters REST API

Resolution 

You can export all your users from the Users tab and examine the exported .csv file to see if any other user has that same user ID.

You can also use the xMatters API to run an HTTP request that searches to see if any users have that user ID set as their web login.

The description of the GET /people endpoint can be found here:
https://help.xmatters.com/xmapi/index.html?shell#get-people

This is a GET request and the endpoint would look something like:
https://companyname.xmatters.com/api/xm/1/people/?search=<webloginID>

where companyname is your xMatters hostname and webloginID is the user ID in the error message. This returns entries that match against:

• firstName
• lastName
• targetName
• webLogin

If the user ID value matches the external sync key, it also returns a similar error and this may not be found using the above methods. If a deeper investigation is necessary, contact Customer Support for assistance.

Cause

Another user in your instance has this same user ID as their web login ID. Remember that when you create or sync a user, the default action is to set web login ID to the user ID. However, each web login ID must be unique in the system; if another user has this ID as their web login ID, you will see the error.