Updating a user's SAML NameID

When an account's NameID changes on your identity provider (IdP) and the person can no longer sign into your GitHub Enterprise Server instance, you must update the NameID mapping on your GitHub Enterprise Server instance.

In this article

About updates to users' SAML NameID

In some situations, you may need to update values associated with a person's account on your SAML IdP. If that identifier is also the NameID that you use for authentication on GitHub, you must update the NameID mapping on your instance so the person can continue to authenticate successfully. For more information, see Username considerations for external authentication.

To update user SAML NameID mappings in bulk, you can use the ghe-saml-mapping-csv command. For more information, see Command-line utilities.

When SCIM is enabled on your GitHub Enterprise Server instance, you cannot update user SAML NameID mappings.

Updating a user's SAML NameID

Enterprise owners can update a user's SAML NameID on a GitHub instance.

  1. From an administrative account on GitHub Enterprise Server, in the upper-right corner of any page, click .
  2. If you're not already on the "Site admin" page, in the upper-left corner, click Site admin.
  3. In the left sidebar, click All users.
  4. In the list of users, click the username you'd like to update the NameID mapping for.
  5. In the upper-right corner of the page, click Security.
    Screenshot of the header of the "Site admin" page for a user or repository. The "Security" tab is highlighted with an orange outline.
  6. To the right of "Update SAML NameID", click Edit .
  7. In the "NameID" field, type the new NameID for the user.
  8. Click Update NameID.