Purge does not work

Overview

Removing Swivel deleted users using the Purge function fails.

Prerequisites

Swivel 3.5 onwards

Symptoms

Error Log Message:

0 users have been permanently deleted from <repository name> repository.

Solution

On the Swivel Administration console select User Administration. Select the repository from which users should be permanently deleted, ensure that All Repositories is not selected, then click on Purge. Select the State Deleted and verify if any deleted users are present. If deleted users are present, select the repository they are members of, click on Purge, click on User Sync then check the State again.

Known Issues

There is a bug in Swivel 3.6.3275, 3.7.3474 and 3.7.3727 that prevents deleted users being purged from the database. There is however a workaround by turning off the purge function so that the users will be removed straight away rather than being marked as deleted. To use the work around and remove all users that are not found in the repository:

On the Swivel Administration Console, select Repository, then the Repository name required. Set the "Mark users as deleted" option to No.

Then run a manual user sync, which will remove the deleted users. You can then turn the option back on as required.

Swivel 3.6 to 3.9.7, users with a _ in their username could not be deleted. Upgrade to 3.10 or later to resolve this issue.

Troubleshooting

Check the Swivel logs

Error Messages

Exception occurred during database access, exception: java.sql.SQLException: Subquery returns more than 1 row

When an Active/Active Swivel is out of synchronisation, the users may be marked as deleted on both Swivel instances and this may prevent them being purged. Ensure the databases are synchronised.