Configuration settings for VMware vCenter discovery

Last published : Aug 24, 2026
To change the number of vCenter Servers and the ESX servers that are configured for the periodic vCenter discovery, you need to edit the following values in the virtualization.conf file. The file is created during the installation of Control Host.
  • vc_max_processes
  • esx_batchsize
  • ds_browse_batchsize
  • datastore_browse
Where:
vc_max_processes: The number of processes that are created for the discovery of the vCenter Servers. One process per vCenter Server is created for the discovery.
esx_batchsize: The maximum number of ESX/ESXi servers that gets discovered in a batch. Default value of this parameter is 300. If there are more than 300 ESX/ESXi servers in a vCenter, discovery of such vCenter creates batches of ESX/ESXi servers and discovers them.
ds_browse_batchsize: The number of datastores that gets discovered on a vCenter in parallel. Default value of this configuration parameter is 25. This configuration parameter works only if datastore_browse is set to 1.
datastore_browse: This flag indicates if datastores need to be browsed for discovering the details of virtual disks. Default value of this configuration parameter is 0 which means datastore browse is skipped. In case datastore browse is required, set this parameter to 1.
The virtualization.conf file is located at:
  • On Linux Control Host: /var/opt/VRTSsfmh
  • On Windows Control Host: %ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Symantec\VRTSsfmh\
More Information
Setting up near real-time discovery of VMware events
Configuring the VMware vCenter Server to generate SNMP traps