Integration user getting locked out repeatedly – REST API calls from SolarWinds failing with “User i

[SunilkumarP1632]

Hi Team,

We are integrating SolarWinds with ServiceNow to create incidents via REST API (Basic Auth). We are facing repeated authentication failures resulting in the integration user getting locked out automatically.

Observed behavior:

REST API calls fail with error: “User is not authenticated / Required to provide Auth information”

SolarWinds UI shows: “Error querying ServiceNow Instance – Instance can be offline or not properly configured”

ServiceNow user audit history shows multiple failed login attempts logged as “Guest”, followed by automatic lockout

Integration user is active and has required roles (itil, etc.)

MID Server is up and healthy (used for other integrations)

Findings:

Failed attempts increment until lockout threshold is reached

Lockout is applied by system security policy

Requests appear to reach ServiceNow but fail authentication

Questions:

What are the common causes for REST API calls being logged as “Guest” and triggering failed login attempts?

Are there any ServiceNow security properties or auth policies that could cause this behavior with Basic Auth?

Is OAuth strongly recommended for SolarWinds integrations to avoid account lockouts?

Any best practices to prevent integration users from repeated lockouts?

Any guidance from similar integration experiences would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[Ankur Bawiskar]

@SunilkumarP1632 

did it not work even once?

Did you mark that API user as Internal integration user with that checkbox?

If your DEV instance has SSO the checkbox will help to bypass that

💡 If my response helped, please mark it as correct ✅ and close the thread 🔒— this helps future readers find the solution faster! 🙏

[SunilkumarP1632]

Hi @Ankur Bawiskar  

this is issue is from Prod 

we have SSO only in Prod - for lower instance we are using local login 

@Ankur Bawiskar  - how should i proceed now 

[Ankur Bawiskar]

@SunilkumarP1632 

you can try enabling that checkbox in PROD and see if that works

Was this integration not tested in DEV or TEST where SSO was there?

[SunilkumarP1632]

ok i will do.