using the hmc, you can create and activate often-used collections of predefined partition profiles. a collection of predefined partition profiles is called a system profile.

    the system profile is an ordered list of partitions and the profile that is to be activated for each partition. the first profile in the list is activated first, followed by the second profile in the list, followed by the third, and so on.

    the system profile helps you change the managed systems from one complete set of partitions configurations to another. for example, a company might want to switch from using 12 partitions to using only four, every day. to do this, the system administrator deactivates the 12 partitions and activates a different system profile, one specifying four partitions.

    when you create a group of affinity partitions, the hmc automatically creates a system profile that includes all of the affinity partitions that you created.