CSV directory integration prerequisites

The following are the prerequisites for CSV directory integrations:

  • The Okta Provisioning Agent is lightweight and runs on either Linux (CentOS or RHEL) or Microsoft Windows Server (x86/x64), and sits behind a firewall. To find the download link, sign in to Okta, select SettingsDownloads, and go to the Okta Provisioning Agent section.
  • The Okta Provisioning Agent version must be 1.03.00 or higher. Previous versions don't support this feature. See Install the Okta Provisioning Agent.
  • Your CSV file must have a .csv extension and be saved to an on-premises directory.
  • Your CSV file must be in UTF-8 format. Caution: selecting the CSV UTF-8 (Comma delimited) option in some versions of Microsoft Excel can cause imports to fail. This occurs because the UTF-8 character encoding used in those files isn't recognized.
  • The Okta Provisioning Agent must have read permissions for the CSV file.
  • You must enable Allow CSV Directory to source Okta users. Go to the Provisioning tab of your CSV directory and click To Okta. Edit the Profile & Lifecycle Sourcing section and select Allow CSV Directory to source Okta users. Click Save.
  • All active users must be present for every CSV import. Your CSV file is a representation of all active users from your source system. All active users must be present in every CSV import or the user is considered inactive. Okta uses the Unique Identifier that you designated as the primary identifier for each user. The import behaves as follows:
    • If a user is missing during the latest import, Okta assumes that the user is no longer active and deactivates the user in Okta.
    • If a new user appears who didn't exist in Okta during a previous import as denoted by their unique identifier, then Okta creates the user.
    • If a user exists in Okta and is also present in the latest import, Okta treats the data in the CSV file as the source of truth. Okta uses the data from the CSV file and executes any updates to that user's attributes.
  • All required attributes must be present for every CSV import. The unique identifier and all attributes marked as Attribute Required in the Okta Profile Editor must be present in the CSV file. If any of the required attributes is missing for a user, the following results:
    • For an existing user, the user is deactivated from Okta
    • For a new user, the import fails
  • Ensure that you properly format all attributes and headers:
    • Required attribute headers are case-sensitive.
    • Use only variable names, not display names as CSV headers.
    • Don't use empty spaces surrounding the headers within the CSV—they aren't ignored.
    • The Profile Editor ignores any column within the CSV with a header attribute that wasn't previously configured.
  • Optional attributes must be present to be updated. If an attribute is optional, and there's no header in the CSV file for that attribute, Okta doesn't update that attribute. Okta updates all other attributes.