Hi,

you can try to use view parameters:

<f:metadata>
    <f:viewParam name="activetab" value="#{bean.tab}"/>
 </f:metadata>

<rich:tabPanel activeItem="#{bean.tab}">

<rich:tab name="tab1">...</rich:tab>
<rich:tab name="tab2">...</rich:tab>
<rich:tab name="tab3">...</rich:tab>

</rich:tabPanel>

Then you could call open page with URL similar to http://localhost:8080/myapp/faces/mypage.xhtml?activetab=tab2

Try to find more documentation about view parameters. At least I suggest to use a validator for f:viewParam.

Regards,

Palo