What is a Profile, and why is it defined as a separate object?

Short answer

Profile is a reusable configuration that allows settings such as health check, compression, cache, timeout and log to be defined once and used in many places. The Health Checks profile is assigned to the Backend Service or to the Backend Group; the Compression, Cache, Trusted Proxies, Timeouts, vService Limits, Logs, Notifications and Reports profiles are assigned to the vService; Content Pages, on the other hand, is not assigned directly anywhere, it is selected within actions and protection profiles. The reason it is a separate object is to eliminate repetition: a single change made to the profile is reflected everywhere it is used.

How Does It Work?

1. Defined: The profile is created once under Load Balancer → Profiles by selecting its type (e.g. Profiles → Health Checks → Add).
2. Used: Where the profile is selected depends on its type:
   • Assigned to the Backend Service / Backend Group: The Health Checks profile is selected from the Health Check field in the Backend Service or Backend Group form.
   • Assigned to the vService: The Compression, Cache, Trusted Proxies, Timeouts, vService Limits, Logs, Notifications and Reports profiles are selected from the relevant field in the vService form.
   • Selected within other objects: The Content Pages profile is not assigned to a vService; it is selected as the page to be shown in the Show Content, Show Content for Traffic Manager Errors, Show Content for Backend Service Errors, Quarantine and Advanced CAPTCHA actions, in the L7 DDoS Protection and WAF profiles, and in the AGS Bot Protection policies. For the page to appear on a vService, the action or profile that uses it must be attached to that vService.
3. Updated from a single place: When the profile is changed, every place that uses it works with the new setting. Where the profile is used is seen in the Used in tab of the preview panel.

What Is It For?

Without a profile	With a profile
The same setting is entered separately in each vService.	The setting is defined once and selected in the desired places.
Changing the timeout in 50 vServices means 50 separate edits.	The Timeouts profile is edited once; the change is reflected in all 50 vServices at once.
Setting differences arise between services over time.	Services that use the same profile always work with the same setting.

Profile Types

Profile	What it does	Where it is selected	vService type
Health Checks	Periodically measures the health of Backend Services	Backend Service / Backend Group	All (in Network, only TCP - L4 and UDP - L4, while Port range is off)
Compression	Compresses responses	vService	HTTP
Cache	Keeps frequently requested content on TR7	vService	HTTP
Trusted Proxies	Resolves the real client IP when there is a CDN/proxy in front	vService	HTTP
Timeouts	Determines connection and session timeouts	vService	HTTP, L7 TCP
vService Limits	Limits connection, session and SSL traffic	vService	HTTP, L7 TCP
Logs	Sends access logs to syslog/SIEM servers	vService	HTTP, L7 TCP
Notifications	Sends notifications on threshold breaches and status changes	vService	HTTP, L7 TCP
Reports	Generates reports from traffic statistics	vService	HTTP (can be selected in L7 TCP, the report consists only of time series charts, breakdowns are not generated; in Network it is listed in the selector, the profile is not saved)
Content Pages	Pages to be shown in error, blocking, quarantine and maintenance situations	Actions, L7 DDoS Protection and WAF profiles, AGS Bot Protection policies (areas of use)	HTTP

In a Network vService, vService profiles other than Reports cannot be selected; although Reports is listed in the selector, the profile is not saved in this type and the Report tab does not open. The profile that applies in this type is the Health Checks profile assigned to the Backend Services.

Profile in TR7

• If no profile is selected: If no profile is selected in the Timeout and vService Limits fields, TR7's default values apply. For a Backend Service whose health check field remains at the default No Check, health is not checked.
• Seeing the impact in advance: Before a profile is changed, the vServices, Backend Services and actions that use it are checked from the Used in tab.
• TLS settings in a separate place: TLS version and cipher settings are not in this list; they are managed as TLS Security Profiles under Certificates & PKI and are selected from the SSL Security field in the vService form.

Common Misconceptions

• "Changing the profile affects only the current vService." The profile changes everywhere it is used. If a different setting is needed for a single vService, a new profile is created and assigned only to that vService.
• "The Health Check is assigned to the vService." The Health Checks profile is assigned not to the vService but to the Backend Service or to the Backend Group.
• "I assign the Content Pages profile to the vService." Content Pages is not selected in a vService field; it is selected within the action that will show the page (e.g. Show Content for Traffic Manager Errors) or within a protection profile, and that action or profile is attached to the vService.
• "SSL/TLS settings are in the Load Balancer profiles." TLS security profiles are managed under Certificates & PKI.

How it is done in the documentation

• Profiles · Profiles
• Content Pages · Usage Locations
• Load Balancer - ADC · Core Building Blocks
• vService · Feature / Capability Comparison

Related questions

• Which profile types are there; which vService types can they be used with?
• How do I understand the impact of changing a profile before I change it ("Used in")?
• Is it right to use the default profiles as they are in production?
• What is a Health Check, and why is it needed?