Create or Edit a Basic Authentication External Credential
To authenticate directly into an external system with a static username and password, create an external credential that uses the Basic authentication protocol.
Required Editions
| Available in: both Salesforce Classic (not available in all orgs) and Lightning Experience |
| Available in: all editions |
| User Permissions Needed | |
|---|---|
| To view external credentials: | View Setup and Configuration |
| To create, edit, or delete external credentials: | Manage Named Credentials or Customize Applications |
- From Setup, in the Quick Find box, enter Named Credentials, and then select Named Credentials.
- Click External Credentials.
- To create a new external credential, click New. To edit an existing external credential, click its link in the list of external credentials, and then click Edit.
- Complete the fields.
Field Description Label A user-friendly name for the external credential that’s shown in the Salesforce user interface, such as in list views. Name A unique identifier that’s used to refer to this external credential from callout definitions and through the API.
The name can contain only underscores and alphanumeric characters. It must be unique, begin with a letter, not include spaces, not end with an underscore, and not contain two consecutive underscores.
Authentication Protocol Select Basic Authentication. - Save the external credential.
Create Principals
After you create an external credential that uses the Basic authentication protocol, create principals for it. You link an external credential to permission sets or user profiles through principals, and at run time, the platform ensures that the user has the permission set before accessing the remote system.
- On the Named Credentials page, click External Credential.
- Select the external credential that you created.
- Scroll to Principals.
- To create a principal for the external credential, click New or
select Edit from the Actions menu of an existing principal.When editing an existing principal, not all the fields listed here are modifiable.
- Enter the information for the principal.
Field Description Parameter Name Enter a name for the principal, such as Admin or Marketing Group. Sequence Number Assign an optional sequence number. A sequence number specifies the order of principals to apply when a user participates in more than one principal. For example, a user can be part of multiple permission sets that are applicable for a credential provider. Priority is from lower to higher numbers. Identity Type Select Named Principal or Per-User Principal. A named principal applies the same credential or authentication configuration for the entire org, while per-user authentication provides access control at the individual user level.
If you select Named Principal, also enter the username and password for accessing the external system. When you save the principal, the external credential is authorized automatically.
- Save the principal.You can’t modify the Principal Name and Identity Type of an existing principal. To change these parameters, delete the principal and recreate it.
Now that you created the external credential and its principal, it’s time to create the connected name credential. See Create or Edit a Named Credential. For an overview of all of the steps required to configure a named credential, see Create Named Credentials and External Credentials.
