A software repository contains packages for one or more publishers. Repositories can be configured for access in a variety of different ways: HTTP, HTTPS, file (on local storage or via NFS or SMB), and as a self-contained package archive file, usually with the .p5p extension.
Package archives allow for convenient distribution of IPS packages. See Deliver as a Package Archive File for more information.
A repository accessed via HTTP or HTTPS is managed by a pkg/server SMF service and pkg.depotd process or possibly by a pkg/depot SMF service. For file repositories, the repository software runs as part of the accessing client.
See Publish the Package and Deliver the Package for examples. See Copying and Creating Package Repositories in Oracle Solaris 11.2 for more information about creating, accessing, updating, and configuring IPS package repositories.