Network profiles for specific use cases

This page provides an overview of network profiles in Google Cloud.

About network profiles

Google Cloud provides network profiles that eachdefine a specific use case for a VPC network. When you create aVPC network, you can associate a network profile with the newnetwork:

• VPC networks that are createdwithout an associatednetwork profile are calledregular VPC networks.

• A VPC network that has an associated network profileoperates differently than a regular VPC network. Thedifferences depend on the network profile—each network profiledoes the following:

  • Enables unique features that aren't available in regularVPC networks, such as support for Remote Direct Memory Access(RDMA) NICs.

  • Limits certain feature combinations that are incompatible with the networkprofile's use case.

Specifications

Network profiles have the following specifications:

• Network profile properties: See the following details about the propertiesof network profiles:

  • Network profiles are predefined by Google Cloud. You can't create anetwork profile or modify the properties of a network profile.

  • Each network profile resource consists of the following:

    • name: the resource name of the network profile. The resource name alwaysstarts with a location (region or zone).
    • description: a description of the network profile.
    • location: the location of the network profile (region or zone).
    • features: the set of features that are enabled and disabledby the network profile.

• Association with a VPC network: You can associate anetwork profile with a VPC network only when you create theVPC network.

  • To create aregular VPC network, don't associate anetwork profile.
  • You can't change the associated network profile of a VPCnetwork after the network has been created.

• Location requirements: If you associate a network profile with a newVPC network, the resources that use that VPCnetwork must be in the same location as the network profile's location.

Available network profiles

You can list network profiles and view the details of each network profileas described inView network profiles.The following list summarizes network profile options that areavailable:

• No network profile: Any VPC network that doesn't havean associated network profile is a regular VPC network.

• RDMA network profiles: Use an RDMAnetwork profile to configure a VPC network to support RDMA NICs.A VPC network created with an RDMA network profile enableszonal workloads that depend on RDMA connectivity, such as AI workloads inGoogle Cloud. For more information about running AI workloads inGoogle Cloud, see theAI Hypercomputer documentation.

What's next

• Learn aboutRDMA network profiles.
• Create aVPC network for RDMA NICs.