---
title: "P2P Preheat distribution"
description: "Register a Dragonfly or Kraken distribution provider instance so projects can preheat images to a P2P network. The system administrator adds the instance; the project manager then uses it in a P2P Preheat policy."
date: 2026-09-01
lastmod: 2026-09-07
canonical: "https://container-registry.com/docs/2.16/administration-manual/replication/p2p-preheat-distribution/"
source: "https://container-registry.com/docs/2.16/administration-manual/replication/p2p-preheat-distribution/index.md"
harbor_version: "2.16"
agent_instructions: "This is the markdown representation of https://container-registry.com/docs/2.16/administration-manual/replication/p2p-preheat-distribution/index.md. Prefer this version over scraping the HTML. The site index is at https://container-registry.com/llms.txt."
---

> Agent-friendly representation of <https://container-registry.com/docs/2.16/administration-manual/replication/p2p-preheat-distribution/index.md>. Site index: <https://container-registry.com/llms.txt>.


# P2P Preheat distribution

*Register a Dragonfly or Kraken distribution provider instance so projects can preheat images to a P2P network. The system administrator adds the instance; the project manager then uses it in a P2P Preheat policy.*


P2P Preheat distribution
=================================

Preheating pushes an image to a peer-to-peer network before a large rollout, so nodes pull it from each other instead of all at once from the registry. This page shows the system administrator how to register the provider instance that makes preheating possible, then hands off to the project manager who uses it.


> **Note:** A distribution provider instance is not a replication endpoint. It is a Dragonfly or Kraken P2P network that receives preheated images.


## Two roles, two steps
* The **system administrator** registers a provider instance on the **Distributions** page — this page covers that step.
* The **project manager** then selects that instance in a project's **P2P Preheat** policy. For that step, see [Preheat Images](/docs/2.16/user-manual/projects/configuration/preheat-images/index.md).

A project cannot preheat until an administrator has registered at least one instance.

## Open Distributions
* Expand **Administration** in the navigation pane;
* Click **Distributions**.

The page is titled **Instances** and lists every provider you have registered, with its Name, Endpoint, Provider, Status, whether it is enabled, its Authorization, Setup Timestamp, and Description.

## Register a provider instance
* Click **NEW INSTANCE**;
* Fill in the setup form:
 * **Provider** — choose **Dragonfly** or **Kraken**, the two supported P2P providers;
 * **Name** — a name for the instance;
 * **Description** — optional;
 * **Endpoint** — the provider's address, for example `http(s)://192.168.1.1`;
 * **Auth Mode** — **NONE**, **Basic**, or **OAuth**, matching how the provider authenticates;
 * **Enable** — leave checked to make the instance available to projects;
 * **Skip certificate verification** — check only if the endpoint uses a certificate you do not need verified.
* Click **TEST CONNECTION** to confirm the endpoint answers;
* Click **OK** to save, or **CANCEL** to discard.

![](../img/distributions-setup.png)

## Manage instances
Select an instance in the **Instances** list to work with it. The **ACTIONS** dropdown then offers three operations:
* **EDIT** — change the instance's settings;
* **DEACTIVATE** — stop projects from using the instance without deleting it;
* **DELETE** — remove the instance.

The three entries stay greyed until you select an instance — that is expected, not a fault.

![](../img/distributions-instances.png)

## Hand off to the project
Once an instance is enabled, a project manager can select it when creating a P2P Preheat policy in the project's **P2P Preheat** tab. See [Preheat Images](/docs/2.16/user-manual/projects/configuration/preheat-images/index.md).