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

Or during group synchronization, you might encounter errors like:

ERROR: Target Name already in use

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

Environment

All xMatters versions

xMatters REST API

Resolution

For user creation issues:

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

For group synchronization issues with 'Target Name already in use' errors:

• Check if the users you're trying to add to the group's observers list already exist in the system

• If specific users consistently trigger this error, try removing them from the observers list before the next sync

• Verify that the group and user configurations are correct in your source system

• Ensure you're not attempting to duplicate existing group memberships

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

For user creation issues: 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.

For group synchronization issues: The error typically occurs when there are conflicts with target names in the observers list of the group you're trying to synchronize. This happens when users in the observers list already exist in the system or when there are duplicate entries in your group configuration.