SSO Troubleshooting Tips

The following is common errors that may arise when enabling Single Sign On (SSO). Please review this guide before reaching out to support. 

Error configuring SSO

Issues setting up SSO indicate a problem with your metadata document. The metadata document must be a valid XML file accessible to Crunchbase, and should be hosted permanently to avoid SSO breaking in the future.

Follow the Google instructions to set up your own custom SAML application under your super administrator account.

1. Here you will set up the fields
   1. ACS URL—The service provider's Assertion Consumer Service URL receives the SAML response. It must start with https://.
   2. Entity ID—The globally unique name.
   3. Start URL—(Optional) This sets the RelayState parameter in a SAML Request, which can be a URL to redirect to after authentication.

Troubleshooting the metadata document

1. Try accessing the document in your browser. Does it load?
2. Does the document redirect after you visit?
3. Is the file valid XML? Is it a valid metadata document? Are there missing values?
   1. Try plugging the response through a SAML metadata validation tool like this one.

Issue signing in with SSO

Issues signing in with SSO could either indicate problems with the metadata document or the user is attempting to sign in using an unsupported method.

Below are a few examples of SSO sign in attempt errors:

“Required String parameter ‘RelayState’ is not present”

This error often indicates the user attempted to login via an Identity Provider (IdP) initiated login, which Crunchbase does not currently support.  For users utilizing Okta, we recommend they create a “bookmark”: Instructions for Single Sign-On Setup with Okta 

Troubleshooting:

1. Verify the user is logging in via Crunchbase directly for SSO, or is utilizing a “bookmark”.
2. If the user is using a supported SSO flow, see the steps above in Troubleshooting the metadata document

Generic Error

This error can indicate a problem loading and parsing the user’s metadata document.

Troubleshooting:

1. See Troubleshooting the metadata document section 

Need help or guidance? Reach out to us at prosupport@crunchbase.com or post your question in the Crunchbase Community.