Symptom
If a large number is set for the property ‘Common symmetric key lifetime in days’, the following error messages may appear in the browser, when users try to logon to Cognos 8.
CAM-AAA-0203 Unable to generate or validate a userSessionID.
CAM-AAA-0027 The function call to ‘CAM_GenerateUserSessionID’ failed. Reason: ‘-1’
Problem
In Cognos Configuration, ‘Common symmetric key lifetime in days’ specifies the maximum number of days that the CSK is valid. If a too large number is set for this property, error messages like CAM-AAA-0203 and CAM-AAA-0027 may appear in the browser when users trying to log into Cognos 8.
Cause
The number specified as ‘Common symmetric key lifetime in days’ is too large.
Solution
Decrease the number for the ‘CSK lifetime in days’. In most cases, there is no need of change from the default value: 365.
A certain rule was found during testing on 8.4.1: ‘the date when csk is generated’ minus ‘CSK lifetime in days’ must be equal or greater than ‘01/01/1970’.