If the customer encounters a 401 Authorization Required error, what is often the underlying issue?

The occurrence of a 401 Authorization Required error typically indicates that the request made by the client to access a resource on the server has not been completed successfully due to lack of valid authentication credentials. In many cases, this error can occur because of issues related to the Identity Provider (IdP) configuration.

When identity management services are not set up correctly, factors such as improper client registration, wrong redirect URIs, or incorrect permissions can lead to authorization failures like this. If the IdP is not adequately configured to support the authentication flow or if there are mismatches between the client application and the IdP settings, the result will often be a 401 error when attempting to access protected resources.

In contrast, network connectivity issues would generally lead to different types of errors, rather than an authorization-specific one. Incorrect client ID could lead to confusion but would be more likely to produce a different response than the 401 error. Similarly, an expired session token might lead to a different error, such as a token expiry notification, rather than the authorization issue indicated by a 401 error. Therefore, misconfigurations with the IdP play a crucial role in causing authorization errors, substantiating the selection as the most accurate option.