In JIRA 5.1.8, we can inactivate user accounts instead of deleting them. This works for user accounts in JIRA internal directory, but not for users synchronized and authenticated from LADP. When administering an LDAP user, this option is hidden.
I checked whether this can be done with SQL.
update cwd_user
set active = 0
where lower_user_name = 'shaakunthala';
commit;
It worked after a restart. After restarting, I did a directory synchronization to see whether it get reverted.
Is this workaround OK? Are there any drawbacks in this approach other than the downtime?