How do I modify User Directory config with SSO turned on?

[Rob Wiskow]

I need to change the configuration of the User Directory for Crowd in Jira. Specifically, I want to enable nested groups.

According to the documentation (https://confluence.atlassian.com/display/JIRA/Configuring+User+Directories) I need to set up an admin user in the Jira internal directory and use that to modify the crowd settings.

But according to this (https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/CWD-2535), you can't use accounts in the internal directory if you have SSO enabled.

This seems like a fairly major oversight, since the only way I can see to make this tiny change is to disable SSO (requiring config file changes), restart Jira, make the director config change, then reenable SSO and restart Jira again.

[Rob Wiskow · Accepted solution]

If you're using SSO, then you can't login as admin. If you have an "admin" account in Crowd, and attempt to use that, then as the documentation states, you cannot edit the Crowd User Directory config. This is a "feature" to prevent an admin from inadvertantly locking themselves out.

The fix I was given by Atlassian support was to shut Jira down, and change the setting by directly editing the database. This worked, but doesn't seem like a very good solution to what is probably a common setup.

[C_ Faysal]

thats what i was doin. loging in as admin works very well. i was trying that szenario before answering. do the same before downgrading my answer. you will see it works

[C_ Faysal]

you mean logging in as admin, edit the crowd userdirectory, enable nested groups is not enough?

hmm that confuses me right now cause as admin i was always able to edit my user directories.

note that the order of the directory does matter. my crowd dir on top is not editable. just bring any other (f.e. jira internal directory) on top and you'll be able to edit your crowd directory.

does that help?