How to automatically select a namespace in Cognos BI where multiple namespaces exist ?

Resolving The Problem

There are a few methods of selecting a namespace:

Option 1: Multiple Gateways with bound Namespaces

A Company may choose to separate their end-users by using more than one Gateway to access the Cognos Connection portal. In this case, the Company would decide on how the division of the users is performed, whether by Region, Department or other criteria. At which point, the Company would provide the users a Cognos Reportnet/C8 Gateway URL, which has been bound to a specific Namespace in Cognos Configuration.

When a user accesses Cognos Connection through one of these Gateway URLs, they are only allowed to be authenticated against the Namespace that the Gateway has been bound against. If a user chooses attempts to access the wrong gateway and does not have proper credentials, they will not be allowed into the product.

The Cognos Administrator may bind a Gateway to a specific Namespace by following these steps:

Steps:

a) Launch Cognos Configuration on the Gateway machine.

b) Click on the Environment group in the left-hand Explorer pane.

c) Find the property entitled Gateway Namespace

d) Enter the desired Namespace ID as a value for this property.

e) Save the Configuration.

Option 2: Create an SDK application

It is possible to create an Software Development Kit (SDK) application to help aid in a scenario where Companies need more flexibility in how to Authenticate users. Please review the Customer Authentication Provider documentation which is installed with the Cognos Software Development Kit.

Option 3: Embed a Namespace parameter into the URL

If there is an option of providing multiple URL links for users to choose their namespace, then it is possible to insert a parameter entitled <i>CAMNamespace</i> into an existing URL.

The CAMNamespace parameter will instruct the product to
authenticate against a specific namespace, rather than initially allowing the user to choose from the drop-down list that the product currently presents.

In the following example, MyNameSpaceID has been defined in Cognos Configuration as a Namespace ID for a specific authentication provider.

So the URL would look like:

http://server.domain.com/c8/cgi-bin/cognos.cgi?CAMNamespace=MyNameSpaceID

OR

http://server.domain.com/crn/cgi-bin/cognos.cgi?CAMNamespace=MyNameSpaceID