Resource Profiles

  • Release version: Zurich
  • Updated July 31, 2025
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Resource Profiles

    Resource profiles in ServiceNow are cloud provider-agnostic definitions that specify allowed attribute values for cloud resources. They enable customers to control which options users see when requesting cloud resources, simplifying resource provisioning by avoiding the need to create unique blueprints for every variation. Resource profiles map key associations such as cloud accounts, datacenters, resource types, and optionally pricing information, streamlining the cloud provisioning process across multiple cloud providers.

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    Key Features

    • Provider-Agnostic Profiles: Define reusable profiles independent of cloud providers, applicable across AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and others.
    • Resource Types and Attributes: Profiles are created for specific resource types including compute, application, security groups, operating system images, and schedules, each with relevant attributes to control provisioning.
    • Compute Profiles: Specify hardware configurations (CPU, memory, storage) that users select when provisioning virtual machines.
    • Application Profiles: Define software installation packages (e.g., Ansible playbooks) that can be selected during stack requests for automated configuration management.
    • Compute Security Group Profiles: Apply predefined firewall and security rules to new resources, mapped to cloud accounts and datacenters.
    • OS Profiles: Manage operating system images and scripts, reusable across multiple cloud accounts, ensuring consistent VM provisioning.
    • Schedule Profiles: Control start/stop times for resources, enabling automated lifecycle management based on defined schedules.
    • Provider Public Images: Customers can add AWS and Azure public images to the catalog, making them selectable within OS profiles for streamlined provisioning.

    Practical Usage and Benefits

    ServiceNow customers can leverage resource profiles to:

    • Simplify and standardize cloud resource requests by presenting users with predefined, validated options aligned to organizational policies.
    • Reduce blueprint complexity by reusing profiles instead of creating multiple unique blueprints for resource variations.
    • Ensure consistent security and configuration by associating security groups, software, and OS images with profiles.
    • Automate resource lifecycle management using schedule profiles to control resource uptime.
    • Support multiple cloud providers seamlessly, with automatic mapping for AWS and Azure templates, and manual configuration for others like Google Cloud.

    Implementation Considerations

    • Profiles require mapping to cloud accounts, datacenters, and resource templates discovered via Cloud Provisioning and Governance discovery processes.
    • Credentials can be added to image templates to propagate securely to provisioned VMs.
    • Users selecting resources during requests benefit from simplified choices driven by the predefined profiles, improving user experience and compliance.

    Resource profiles are cloud provider-agnostic definitions that specify the allowed attribute values for a resource. Resource profiles enable you to control the choices that the user sees when requesting a cloud resource. As a result, you do not need to define a unique blueprint for each variation of the resource.

    Note:
    In addition to the cloud-agnostic profiles, you can add provider public images to the Cloud Provisioning and Governance catalog. See Add an AWS public image to Cloud Provisioning and Governance and Add an Azure public image to Cloud Provisioning and Governance.

    Example: Compute profile

    You might create a compute profile named Micro and map it to a "micro" hardware type, with specified values for memory and CPU. Later, when a user selects a compute resource while requesting a virtual server, Micro appears as an option in the list of available compute resources. The user does not need to specify values for memory and CPU — the values come from the profile.
    Figure 1. Compute profile on the request form
    Compute profile on the request form

    Resource Profile mappings

    Resource profiles create mapping associations between the following items:
    • A cloud account.
    • A logical datacenter in the cloud account.
    • A specific resource type in the CMDB that provides the attributes.
    • Optional: A pricing value that appears to users when they request a resource that uses the resource profile.

    By default for AWS and Azure, Cloud Provisioning and Governance maps profiles to templates after Discovery runs. For other providers, such as Google cloud, you must manually associate the profile with the correct template and datacenter.

    Resource types

    Each resource profile has associated attributes. The attributes depend on the resource types that are populated after you run Discovery on a cloud account.
    Resource profile type Description and attributes Resource type and template
    Application profile An application profile specifies application software to install on newly-provisioned resources. Users can select applications when they request a stack. Use application profiles when you integrate with configuration management (continuous delivery) providers such as Ansible playbooks.

    Attributes: Applications running on virtual machines.

    		 Application Template

    [sn_cmp_application_template]
    Compute profile A compute profile specifies the hardware to use for newly-provisioned virtual machines.

    Attributes: The size of computing resources, including the virtual CPUs, memory, and local storage.

    		 Hardware Type

    [cmdb_ci_compute_template]
    Compute Security Group profile A compute security group profile applies specified security rules to newly-provisioned resources. You map a compute security group profile to a cloud account, a datacenter, a Compute Security Group template, and security rules for the template.

    Attributes: Firewall rules, such as enabling HTTP and HTTPS.

    Compute Security Group Template

    [cmdb_ci_security_grp_template]
    OS profile An OS profile installs a specified image on a newly-provisioned virtual machine. You map an OS profile to a cloud account, a location (datacenter), an image template, and a cloud script.

    Attributes: Operating system images, including the OS type and version, the root device type, and the image source.

    		 Image

    [cmdb_ci_os_template]
    Schedule profile You map a schedule profile to an instance schedule. The schedule profile applies to all newly-provisioned resources that use the profile. For example, a schedule profile can specify the days of the week and times of day when a stack should start and stop.

    Attributes: Schedule attributes such as when a stack should be started, stopped, or deprovisioned.

    		 N/A