diff --git a/pkg/server/distributor_test.go b/pkg/server/distributor_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..6468d4f0f3e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkg/server/distributor_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,415 @@
+package server
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"errors"
+	"fmt"
+	"math/rand"
+	"net"
+	"net/http"
+	"strconv"
+	"sync"
+	"testing"
+	"time"
+
+	claims "github.com/grafana/authlib/types"
+	"github.com/grafana/grafana/pkg/api"
+	"github.com/grafana/grafana/pkg/apimachinery/identity"
+	"github.com/grafana/grafana/pkg/modules"
+	"github.com/grafana/grafana/pkg/services/featuremgmt"
+	"github.com/grafana/grafana/pkg/services/sqlstore/sqlutil"
+	"github.com/grafana/grafana/pkg/setting"
+	"github.com/grafana/grafana/pkg/storage/unified/resource"
+	"github.com/grafana/grafana/pkg/storage/unified/resourcepb"
+	"github.com/grafana/grafana/pkg/storage/unified/search"
+	"github.com/grafana/grafana/pkg/storage/unified/sql"
+	"github.com/prometheus/client_golang/prometheus"
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
+	"go.opentelemetry.io/otel/trace/noop"
+	"google.golang.org/grpc"
+	"google.golang.org/grpc/credentials/insecure"
+	"google.golang.org/grpc/health/grpc_health_v1"
+	"google.golang.org/grpc/metadata"
+	"k8s.io/component-base/metrics/legacyregistry"
+)
+
+var (
+	testIndexFileThreshold  = 200 // just needs to be bigger than max playlist number, so the indexer don't use the filesystem
+	namespaceCount          = 250 // how many stacks we're simulating
+	maxPlaylistPerNamespace = 50  // upper bound on how many playlists we will seed to each stack.
+)
+
+//nolint:gocyclo
+func TestIntegrationDistributor(t *testing.T) {
+	if testing.Short() {
+		t.Skip("skipping integration test")
+	}
+
+	dbType := sqlutil.GetTestDBType()
+	if dbType != "mysql" {
+		t.Skip()
+	}
+
+	// this next line is to avoid double registration when registering sprinkles metrics
+	legacyregistry.Registerer = func() prometheus.Registerer { return prometheus.NewRegistry() }
+
+	db, err := sqlutil.GetTestDB(dbType)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
+	testNamespaces := make([]string, 0, namespaceCount)
+	for i := range namespaceCount {
+		testNamespaces = append(testNamespaces, "stacks-"+strconv.Itoa(i))
+	}
+
+	baselineServer := createBaselineServer(t, dbType, db.ConnStr, testNamespaces)
+
+	testServers := make([]testModuleServer, 0, 2)
+	memberlistPort := getRandomPort()
+	distributorServer := initDistributorServerForTest(t, memberlistPort)
+	testServers = append(testServers, createStorageServerApi(t, 1, dbType, db.ConnStr, memberlistPort))
+	testServers = append(testServers, createStorageServerApi(t, 2, dbType, db.ConnStr, memberlistPort))
+
+	startAndWaitHealthy(t, distributorServer)
+
+	for _, testServer := range testServers {
+		startAndWaitHealthy(t, testServer)
+	}
+
+	t.Run("should expose ring endpoint", func(t *testing.T) {
+		client := http.Client{}
+		res, err := client.Get(fmt.Sprintf("http://localhost:%s/ring", distributorServer.httpPort))
+		require.NoError(t, err)
+
+		require.Equal(t, res.StatusCode, http.StatusOK)
+		_ = res.Body.Close()
+	})
+
+	t.Run("should expose memberlist endpoint", func(t *testing.T) {
+		client := http.Client{}
+		res, err := client.Get(fmt.Sprintf("http://localhost:%s/memberlist", distributorServer.httpPort))
+		require.NoError(t, err)
+
+		require.Equal(t, res.StatusCode, http.StatusOK)
+		_ = res.Body.Close()
+	})
+
+	t.Run("GetStats", func(t *testing.T) {
+		instanceResponseCount := make(map[string]int)
+
+		for _, ns := range testNamespaces {
+			req := &resourcepb.ResourceStatsRequest{
+				Namespace: ns,
+			}
+			baselineRes := getBaselineResponse(t, req, baselineServer.GetStats)
+			distributorRes := getDistributorResponse(t, req, distributorServer.resourceClient.GetStats, instanceResponseCount)
+			require.Equal(t, baselineRes.String(), distributorRes.String())
+		}
+
+		for instance, count := range instanceResponseCount {
+			require.GreaterOrEqual(t, count, 1, "instance did not get any traffic: "+instance)
+		}
+	})
+
+	t.Run("CountManagedObjects", func(t *testing.T) {
+		instanceResponseCount := make(map[string]int)
+
+		for _, ns := range testNamespaces {
+			req := &resourcepb.CountManagedObjectsRequest{
+				Namespace: ns,
+			}
+			baselineRes := getBaselineResponse(t, req, baselineServer.CountManagedObjects)
+			distributorRes := getDistributorResponse(t, req, distributorServer.resourceClient.CountManagedObjects, instanceResponseCount)
+			require.Equal(t, baselineRes.String(), distributorRes.String())
+		}
+
+		for instance, count := range instanceResponseCount {
+			require.GreaterOrEqual(t, count, 1, "instance did not get any traffic: "+instance)
+		}
+	})
+
+	t.Run("ListManagedObjects", func(t *testing.T) {
+		instanceResponseCount := make(map[string]int)
+
+		for _, ns := range testNamespaces {
+			req := &resourcepb.ListManagedObjectsRequest{
+				Namespace: ns,
+			}
+			baselineRes := getBaselineResponse(t, req, baselineServer.ListManagedObjects)
+			distributorRes := getDistributorResponse(t, req, distributorServer.resourceClient.ListManagedObjects, instanceResponseCount)
+			require.Equal(t, baselineRes.String(), distributorRes.String())
+		}
+
+		for instance, count := range instanceResponseCount {
+			require.GreaterOrEqual(t, count, 1, "instance did not get any traffic: "+instance)
+		}
+	})
+
+	t.Run("Search", func(t *testing.T) {
+		instanceResponseCount := make(map[string]int)
+
+		for _, ns := range testNamespaces {
+			req := &resourcepb.ResourceSearchRequest{
+				Options: &resourcepb.ListOptions{
+					Key: &resourcepb.ResourceKey{
+						Group:     "playlist.grafana.app",
+						Resource:  "aoeuaeou",
+						Namespace: ns,
+					},
+				},
+			}
+			baselineRes := getBaselineResponse(t, req, baselineServer.Search)
+			distributorRes := getDistributorResponse(t, req, distributorServer.resourceClient.Search, instanceResponseCount)
+			// sometimes the querycost is different between the two. Happens randomly and we don't have control over it
+			// as it comes from bleve. Since we are not testing search functionality we hard-set this to 0 to avoid
+			// flaky tests
+			distributorRes.QueryCost = 0
+			baselineRes.QueryCost = 0
+			require.Equal(t, baselineRes.String(), distributorRes.String())
+		}
+
+		for instance, count := range instanceResponseCount {
+			require.GreaterOrEqual(t, count, 1, "instance did not get any traffic: "+instance)
+		}
+	})
+
+	var wg sync.WaitGroup
+	for _, testServer := range testServers {
+		wg.Add(1)
+		go func() {
+			defer wg.Done()
+			ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), 10*time.Second)
+			defer cancel()
+			if err := testServer.server.Shutdown(ctx, "tests are done"); err != nil {
+				require.NoError(t, err)
+			}
+		}()
+	}
+	wg.Wait()
+
+	ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), 10*time.Second)
+	defer cancel()
+	if err := distributorServer.server.Shutdown(ctx, "tests are done"); err != nil {
+		require.NoError(t, err)
+	}
+}
+
+func getBaselineResponse[Req any, Resp any](t *testing.T, req *Req, fn func(ctx context.Context, req *Req) (*Resp, error)) *Resp {
+	ctx := context.Background()
+	baselineRes, err := fn(ctx, req)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	return baselineRes
+}
+
+func getDistributorResponse[Req any, Resp any](t *testing.T, req *Req, fn func(ctx context.Context, req *Req, opts ...grpc.CallOption) (*Resp, error), instanceResponseCount map[string]int) *Resp {
+	ctx := identity.WithServiceIdentityContext(context.Background(), 1)
+	var header metadata.MD
+	res, err := fn(ctx, req, grpc.Header(&header))
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
+	instance := header.Get("proxied-instance-id")
+	if len(instance) != 1 {
+		t.Fatal("received invalid proxied-instance-id header", instance)
+	}
+
+	instanceResponseCount[instance[0]] += 1
+	return res
+}
+
+func startAndWaitHealthy(t *testing.T, testServer testModuleServer) {
+	go func() {
+		// this next line is to avoid double registration, as both InitializeDocumentBuilders as well as ProvideUnifiedStorageGrpcService
+		// are hard-coded to use prometheus.DefaultRegisterer
+		// the alternative would be to get the registry from wire, in which case the tests would receive a new
+		// registry automatically, but that _may_ change metric names
+		// We can remove this once that's fixed
+		prometheus.DefaultRegisterer = prometheus.NewRegistry()
+		if err := testServer.server.Run(); err != nil && !errors.Is(err, context.Canceled) {
+			require.NoError(t, err)
+		}
+	}()
+
+	deadline := time.Now().Add(20 * time.Second)
+	for {
+		conn, err := net.DialTimeout("tcp", testServer.grpcAddress, 1*time.Second)
+		if err == nil {
+			_ = conn.Close()
+			break
+		}
+
+		if time.Now().After(deadline) {
+			t.Fatal("server failed to become ready: ", testServer.id)
+		}
+
+		time.Sleep(1 * time.Second)
+	}
+
+	res, err := testServer.healthClient.Check(context.Background(), &grpc_health_v1.HealthCheckRequest{})
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	require.Equal(t, res.Status, grpc_health_v1.HealthCheckResponse_SERVING)
+}
+
+type testModuleServer struct {
+	server         *ModuleServer
+	healthClient   grpc_health_v1.HealthClient
+	resourceClient resource.ResourceClient
+	id             string
+	grpcAddress    string
+	httpPort       string
+}
+
+func getRandomPort() int {
+	ln, _ := net.Listen("tcp", "127.0.0.1:0")
+	_ = ln.Close()
+	return ln.Addr().(*net.TCPAddr).Port
+}
+
+func initDistributorServerForTest(t *testing.T, memberlistPort int) testModuleServer {
+	cfg := setting.NewCfg()
+	cfg.HTTPPort = strconv.Itoa(getRandomPort())
+	cfg.GRPCServer.Network = "tcp"
+	cfg.GRPCServer.Address = "127.0.0.1:" + strconv.Itoa(getRandomPort())
+	cfg.EnableSharding = true
+	cfg.MemberlistBindAddr = "127.0.0.1"
+	cfg.MemberlistJoinMember = "127.0.0.1:" + strconv.Itoa(memberlistPort)
+	cfg.MemberlistAdvertiseAddr = "127.0.0.1"
+	cfg.MemberlistAdvertisePort = memberlistPort
+	cfg.Target = []string{modules.Distributor}
+	cfg.InstanceID = "distributor" // does nothing for the distributor but may be useful to debug tests
+
+	conn, err := grpc.NewClient(cfg.GRPCServer.Address,
+		grpc.WithTransportCredentials(insecure.NewCredentials()),
+	)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	client := resource.NewLegacyResourceClient(conn, conn)
+
+	server := initModuleServerForTest(t, cfg, Options{}, api.ServerOptions{})
+
+	server.resourceClient = client
+
+	return server
+}
+
+func createStorageServerApi(t *testing.T, instanceId int, dbType, dbConnStr string, memberlistPort int) testModuleServer {
+	cfg := setting.NewCfg()
+	section, err := cfg.Raw.NewSection("database")
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
+	_, err = section.NewKey("type", dbType)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	_, err = section.NewKey("connection_string", dbConnStr)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
+	cfg.HTTPPort = strconv.Itoa(getRandomPort())
+	cfg.GRPCServer.Network = "tcp"
+	cfg.GRPCServer.Address = "127.0.0.1:" + strconv.Itoa(getRandomPort())
+	cfg.EnableSharding = true
+	cfg.MemberlistBindAddr = "127.0.0.1"
+	cfg.MemberlistJoinMember = "127.0.0.1:" + strconv.Itoa(memberlistPort)
+	cfg.MemberlistAdvertiseAddr = "127.0.0.1"
+	cfg.MemberlistAdvertisePort = getRandomPort()
+	cfg.InstanceID = "instance-" + strconv.Itoa(instanceId)
+	cfg.IndexPath = t.TempDir() + cfg.InstanceID
+	cfg.IndexFileThreshold = testIndexFileThreshold
+	cfg.Target = []string{modules.StorageServer}
+
+	return initModuleServerForTest(t, cfg, Options{}, api.ServerOptions{})
+}
+
+func initModuleServerForTest(
+	t *testing.T,
+	cfg *setting.Cfg,
+	opts Options,
+	apiOpts api.ServerOptions,
+) testModuleServer {
+	ms, err := NewModule(opts, apiOpts, featuremgmt.WithFeatures(featuremgmt.FlagUnifiedStorageSearch), cfg, nil, nil, prometheus.NewRegistry(), prometheus.DefaultGatherer, nil)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
+	conn, err := grpc.NewClient(cfg.GRPCServer.Address,
+		grpc.WithTransportCredentials(insecure.NewCredentials()),
+	)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
+	healthClient := grpc_health_v1.NewHealthClient(conn)
+
+	return testModuleServer{server: ms, grpcAddress: cfg.GRPCServer.Address, httpPort: cfg.HTTPPort, healthClient: healthClient, id: cfg.InstanceID}
+}
+
+func createBaselineServer(t *testing.T, dbType, dbConnStr string, testNamespaces []string) resource.ResourceServer {
+	cfg := setting.NewCfg()
+	section, err := cfg.Raw.NewSection("database")
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
+	_, err = section.NewKey("type", dbType)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	_, err = section.NewKey("connection_string", dbConnStr)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	cfg.IndexPath = t.TempDir()
+	cfg.IndexFileThreshold = testIndexFileThreshold
+	features := featuremgmt.WithFeatures(featuremgmt.FlagUnifiedStorageSearch)
+	docBuilders, err := InitializeDocumentBuilders(cfg)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	tracer := noop.NewTracerProvider().Tracer("test-tracer")
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	searchOpts, err := search.NewSearchOptions(features, cfg, tracer, docBuilders, nil)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	server, err := sql.NewResourceServer(nil, cfg, tracer, nil, nil, searchOpts, nil, nil, features)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+
+	testUserA := &identity.StaticRequester{
+		Type:           claims.TypeUser,
+		Login:          "testuser",
+		UserID:         123,
+		UserUID:        "u123",
+		OrgRole:        identity.RoleAdmin,
+		IsGrafanaAdmin: true, // can do anything
+	}
+	ctx := claims.WithAuthInfo(context.Background(), testUserA)
+
+	for _, ns := range testNamespaces {
+		for range rand.Intn(maxPlaylistPerNamespace) + 1 {
+			_, err = server.Create(ctx, generatePlaylistPayload(ns))
+			require.NoError(t, err)
+		}
+	}
+
+	return server
+}
+
+var counter int
+
+func generatePlaylistPayload(ns string) *resourcepb.CreateRequest {
+	name := "playlist" + strconv.Itoa(counter)
+	counter += 1
+	return &resourcepb.CreateRequest{
+		Value: []byte(fmt.Sprintf(`{
+    		"apiVersion": "playlist.grafana.app/v0alpha1",
+			"kind": "Playlist",
+			"metadata": {
+				"name": "%s",
+				"uid": "xyz",
+				"namespace": "%s",
+				"annotations": {
+					"grafana.app/repoName": "elsewhere",
+					"grafana.app/repoPath": "path/to/item",
+					"grafana.app/repoTimestamp": "2024-02-02T00:00:00Z"
+				}
+			},
+			"spec": {
+				"title": "hello",
+				"interval": "5m",
+				"items": [
+					{
+						"type": "dashboard_by_uid",
+						"value": "vmie2cmWz"
+					}
+				]
+			}
+		}`, name, ns)),
+		Key: &resourcepb.ResourceKey{
+			Group:     "playlist.grafana.app",
+			Resource:  "aoeuaeou",
+			Namespace: ns,
+			Name:      name,
+		},
+	}
+}
diff --git a/pkg/server/memberlist.go b/pkg/server/memberlist.go
index 8f1eb6bdb5c..e17d9bba267 100644
--- a/pkg/server/memberlist.go
+++ b/pkg/server/memberlist.go
@@ -51,6 +51,8 @@ func toMemberlistConfig(cfg *setting.Cfg) *memberlist.KVConfig {
 	if cfg.MemberlistAdvertiseAddr != "" {
 		memberlistKVcfg.AdvertiseAddr = cfg.MemberlistAdvertiseAddr
 	}
+	memberlistKVcfg.AdvertisePort = cfg.MemberlistAdvertisePort
+	memberlistKVcfg.TCPTransport.BindPort = cfg.MemberlistAdvertisePort
 	memberlistKVcfg.JoinMembers = []string{cfg.MemberlistJoinMember}
 
 	return memberlistKVcfg
diff --git a/pkg/setting/setting.go b/pkg/setting/setting.go
index 2e5d4bd1e10..c43d27664be 100644
--- a/pkg/setting/setting.go
+++ b/pkg/setting/setting.go
@@ -569,6 +569,7 @@ type Cfg struct {
 	EnableSharding                             bool
 	MemberlistBindAddr                         string
 	MemberlistAdvertiseAddr                    string
+	MemberlistAdvertisePort                    int
 	MemberlistJoinMember                       string
 	MemberlistClusterLabel                     string
 	MemberlistClusterLabelVerificationDisabled bool
diff --git a/pkg/setting/setting_unified_storage.go b/pkg/setting/setting_unified_storage.go
index 23b08c1541b..2484d5c1a33 100644
--- a/pkg/setting/setting_unified_storage.go
+++ b/pkg/setting/setting_unified_storage.go
@@ -58,6 +58,7 @@ func (cfg *Cfg) setUnifiedStorageConfig() {
 	cfg.EnableSharding = section.Key("enable_sharding").MustBool(false)
 	cfg.MemberlistBindAddr = section.Key("memberlist_bind_addr").String()
 	cfg.MemberlistAdvertiseAddr = section.Key("memberlist_advertise_addr").String()
+	cfg.MemberlistAdvertisePort = section.Key("memberlist_advertise_port").MustInt(7946)
 	cfg.MemberlistJoinMember = section.Key("memberlist_join_member").String()
 	cfg.MemberlistClusterLabel = section.Key("memberlist_cluster_label").String()
 	cfg.MemberlistClusterLabelVerificationDisabled = section.Key("memberlist_cluster_label_verification_disabled").MustBool(false)
diff --git a/pkg/storage/unified/resource/distributor.go b/pkg/storage/unified/resource/distributor.go
index 231a0431597..fc49901d255 100644
--- a/pkg/storage/unified/resource/distributor.go
+++ b/pkg/storage/unified/resource/distributor.go
@@ -246,6 +246,8 @@ func (ds *distributorServer) getClientToDistributeRequest(ctx context.Context, n
 
 	ds.log.Info("distributing request to ", "methodName", methodName, "instanceId", rs.Instances[0].Id)
 
+	_ = grpc.SetHeader(ctx, metadata.Pairs("proxied-instance-id", rs.Instances[0].Id))
+
 	return userutils.InjectOrgID(metadata.NewOutgoingContext(ctx, md), namespace), client.(*RingClient).Client, nil
 }