The timeout issues are a direct cause of starting too many customised VMs at once. What I did was change the number of customised VMs from 24 down to 5 and I had 'some' luck with it then.
The first time I did this, the recovery plan worked fine without any errors.....despite only 5/24 VMs with the right IP details. However the second time I attempted the recovery, it all failed again with timeouts.
I just tried the recovery again now using only 5 VMs with customised IPs and it worked fine. So it seems like abit of hit and miss.
Really would VMware would address this as its really annoying and frustrating.
I would recommend logging a feature/enhancement request with VMware regarding this. I logged one last week, unfortunately the technican said he couldn't tell me what the feature number was for me to pass on as they keep it all internal.
- Leigh