LDAP integration troubleshooting

  • Release version: Washingtondc
  • Updated February 1, 2024
  • 2 minutes to read
    • Summarize
    Summarized using AI
    This content was generated using new OpenAI-powered functionality. Results are provided on an as is basis and are not guaranteed to be accurate or complete.

    Summary of LDAP Integration Troubleshooting

    This guide provides essential troubleshooting tips for integrating your LDAP server with ServiceNow. It highlights preliminary checks, error codes, multiple domain integration, incoming records handling, common authentication errors, and connection testing procedures to assist administrators in resolving issues effectively.

    Show full answer Show less

    Preliminary Checks

    • Ensure local administrator accounts exist for access during LDAP downtime.
    • Verify the service account is not expired or locked.
    • Check the username format; use domain\username or username@domain.
    • Confirm the correct systemid entry in the ldapserverconfig record to avoid pointing to the wrong node.

    Error Codes

    Error codes for LDAP and Active Directory (AD) are available in the LDAP log file, which contains standard two-digit and three-digit error codes, respectively. For common error codes, refer to the LDAP Error Codes documentation.

    Multiple Domain Integration

    • Create separate LDAP server records for each domain within the same forest or non-trusted domains.
    • Ensure each record points to its respective domain controller.
    • Identify unique LDAP attributes for usernames and import coalesce values, such as objectSid or userPrincipalName.

    Incoming Records

    Utilize LDAP transform maps to manage the integration of incoming records that lack matching values in reference fields.

    Common Authentication Errors

    • User Cannot Log In (Invalid DN)
    • Invalid CN
    • Invalid Connection

    Automatic LDAP Connection Tests

    ServiceNow provides automatic connection tests to LDAP servers, which occur when the LDAP Server form is opened or via a scheduled job every 15 minutes. Administrators can modify the frequency of this job. If a connection fails, a retry occurs after five minutes or half the Repeat Interval. Any connection issues will display error messages on the form, including support for servers behind a MID server.

    If you are integrating your LDAP server and have questions, these items may help you troubleshoot the issue.

    Preliminary checks

    • If the LDAP is unavailable, users cannot log in to the instance. A good practice is to have local accounts for administrators so that if the LDAP is down, administrators can still access the instance.
    • Check the service account to ensure that it is not expired or locked out.
    • Check the format of the username. Instead of using just the username, try using the domain with the username, or username@domain.
    • Verify that you have changed the system_id entry on the ldap_server_config record. If you modify the system_id unintentionally with an update set, system_id points to the wrong node for the target instance and does not work.

    Error codes

    The LDAP log file lists industry standard error codes for both LDAP and Active Directory (AD). The LDAP log file is contained in the wrapper file. The LDAP error codes are two-digit numbers, while the Active Directory error codes are three-digit numbers. For a list of the most-common error codes, see LDAP Error Codes.

    Multiple domain integration

    You can integrate multiple domains within the same forest or in completely non-trusted domains. It is recommended that you create a separate LDAP server record for each domain. Each LDAP server record must point to a domain controller for that given domain. This means you will have to allow connections to each of the domain controllers. Multiple AD forests through LDAP with one LDAP account is not supported.

    When you expand to more than one domain, it is critical that you identify unique LDAP attributes for the application usernames and import coalesce values. A common unique coalesce attribute for Active Directory is objectSid. Unique usernames will vary based on your LDAP data design. Common unique attributes are email or userPrincipalName.

    Incoming records

    See LDAP transform maps to set how the integration processes incoming LDAP records that are missing matching values in reference fields.

    Common authentication errors

    • User Cannot Log In (Invalid DN)
    • Invalid CN
    • Invalid Connection

    Automatic LDAP connection tests

    You can manually test connections to LDAP servers or allow ServiceNow to automatically test the connections.

    The system tests the connection automatically:
    • Every time a user opens the LDAP Server form.
    • Through the LDAP Connection Test scheduled job, which runs every 15 minutes by default.

      You can change how often this scheduled job runs. If this scheduled job is not able to establish a connection, a new one-time schedule job retries the connection test after either five minutes, or half the Repeat Interval value in the scheduled job, whichever occurs first.

    Error messages appear on the form if there are any issues connecting to the LDAP server. Also supported are test connections for servers behind a MID server.