System configuration profiles are System Management Facility (SMF) XML files. They contain defined system properties that specific SMF services apply to the client when the client is booted after installation.
You manually create profiles. An AI client can use multiple profiles that are associated with the install service. For these cases, you would also need to specify client criteria to ensure that the correct clients use the appropriate profiles during the installation. If you do not define client criteria, then the profile is applied to all AI clients.
Profiles are not required at installation. If no profile exists, then you would manually perform post-install configurations through the System Configuration Interactive (SCI) tool.