Basic Authentication Troubleshooting Guide
This document is a part of our Application Links Troubleshooting Guide.
Atlassian recommends OAuth
All new Application Links are created using OAuth. It provides all of the functionality of Trusted Applications and Basic Authentication. OAuth allows applications to authenticate and authorise users without accessing their credentials.
Further Reading
What is Basic Authentication?
Basic Authentication uses a single username and password to access a linked application. All requests to that linked application are executed as the configured user. The permissions and restrictions of the configured user will be taken into account.
For more information about authentication types, please see Configuring authentication for an application link.
Problems caused by incorrect credentials
| Error Message | Description | Resolution |
|---|---|---|
401 Unauthorized | The linked application did not accept or recognise the credentials configured in the Application Link | Ensure the correct credentials are specified in the "Incoming Authentication" and "Outgoing Authentication" screens in each application. |
Illegal character in query at index | The username used for the incoming or outgoing authentication has spaces in the name. | Ensure the username used in the "Incoming Authentication" and "Outgoing Authentication" do not have spaces. |
Problems caused by using Basic Authentication
| Error Message | Description | Resolution |
|---|---|---|
OAuth fetch fatal error: [consumer_key_unknown,Service provider rejected request] | Although this is an OAuth error, you may see this error when using Basic Authentication. Gadgets require the use of OAuth, and will look for a Consumer Key when requesting information from a linked server. | Use OAuth instead. OAuth is required for Gadgets. For more information about troubleshooting problems with OAuth, see our OAuth Troubleshooting Guide. |
| The Jira Issues Macro expects OAuth. If some or all Confluence users see this error message when viewing the macro, reconfigure your application link to use OAuth. | Reconfigure your application link to use OAuth. For information about updating an existing link to use OAuth, see OAuth security for application links. |
Emulating Basic Authentication with OAuth
You can accomplish an identical configuration by using OAuth, and selecting "Execute As" in the "Incoming Authentication" section of each application.
Note: The "Execute As" functionality requires "2-Legged OAuth (2LO)" to be enabled without impersonation.