A profile is a specific set of configuration settings suited for a computer in a given environment. Profiles allow you to store configuration parameters specific to certain environments and to switch between them, according to the context.
By default Mandriva Linux Control Center profiles enable you to configure network setups for different locations. This is especially useful for laptops which need a different configuration for home, at the office, the coffee shop, etc. It also allows you to activate different services from one profile to another (see Seção 2, “Configuring Start-Up Services”).
New profiles you wish to create are based on the active one. All modifications are automatically recorded in the active profile. A single menu ( ) lets you manage them.
Creates a new profile based on the active one's settings. A dialog pops up asking for the name of the new profile. Don't forget to switch to that profile after creating it.
Shows a list of profiles you can remove. The active profile won't be shown because it can't be removed while being used.
The entries which follow correspond to all available profiles, the active one being checked. Click on a profile name to switch the host configuration to that profile.
Let's take an example. You come back home with your brand new laptop which your system administrator configured so you can connect to your corporate network. You now want to configure the network to access the Internet from home with a dialup connection.
Reconfigure your network so that the modem, instead of the network card, is used to access the Internet (see Seção 1, “Network and Internet Connection Management”).
When back at the office, switch back to the “default” profile.
It's more convenient to specify a profile at boot time than to activate it once the system is booted. drakboot (Seção 2, “Changing your Bootup Configuration”) allows you to associate a specific profile to each menu entry of the bootloader.
Create or modify a boot entry in drakboot. In the options, access the Network profile pull-down menu and select the profile you want to associate to it.