There are other, subtler problems that arise when managing a huge virtual repository. As your Artifacts browser must display all artifacts and subfolders within any given folder, virtual repositories need to perform a nested check to determine what is displayed. This means checking each remote endpoint, as well as every local folder your virtual repository is aggregating.
Here’s an example of a two-second load time with only a remote repository:
In most instances, your virtual repository will need to complete many HEAD requests against multiple remote endpoints. Expect UI actions such as opening a folder to take upwards of thirty (30) seconds to complete on a large virtual repository folder.