diff --git a/app/nvmf_tgt/conf.c b/app/nvmf_tgt/conf.c
index d5bb7f9561..258e661d2b 100644
--- a/app/nvmf_tgt/conf.c
+++ b/app/nvmf_tgt/conf.c
@@ -55,6 +55,8 @@
 
 #define PORTNUMSTRLEN 32
 
+#define ACCEPT_TIMEOUT_US		1000 /* 1ms */
+
 struct spdk_nvmf_probe_ctx {
 	struct spdk_nvmf_subsystem	*subsystem;
 	bool				any;
@@ -158,6 +160,7 @@ spdk_nvmf_parse_nvmf_tgt(void)
 	int in_capsule_data_size;
 	int max_io_size;
 	int acceptor_lcore;
+	int acceptor_poll_rate;
 	int rc;
 
 	sp = spdk_conf_find_section(NULL, "Nvmf");
@@ -206,6 +209,12 @@ spdk_nvmf_parse_nvmf_tgt(void)
 	}
 	g_spdk_nvmf_tgt_conf.acceptor_lcore = acceptor_lcore;
 
+	acceptor_poll_rate = spdk_conf_section_get_intval(sp, "AcceptorPollRate");
+	if (acceptor_poll_rate < 0) {
+		acceptor_poll_rate = ACCEPT_TIMEOUT_US;
+	}
+	g_spdk_nvmf_tgt_conf.acceptor_poll_rate = acceptor_poll_rate;
+
 	rc = nvmf_tgt_init(max_queue_depth, max_queues_per_sess, in_capsule_data_size, max_io_size);
 	if (rc != 0) {
 		SPDK_ERRLOG("nvmf_tgt_init() failed\n");
diff --git a/app/nvmf_tgt/nvmf_tgt.c b/app/nvmf_tgt/nvmf_tgt.c
index 119fb4cf15..0fb8cd5594 100644
--- a/app/nvmf_tgt/nvmf_tgt.c
+++ b/app/nvmf_tgt/nvmf_tgt.c
@@ -58,8 +58,6 @@
 #define SPDK_NVMF_BUILD_ETC "/usr/local/etc/nvmf"
 #define SPDK_NVMF_DEFAULT_CONFIG SPDK_NVMF_BUILD_ETC "/nvmf.conf"
 
-#define ACCEPT_TIMEOUT_US		10000 /* 10ms */
-
 static struct spdk_poller *g_acceptor_poller = NULL;
 
 static TAILQ_HEAD(, nvmf_tgt_subsystem) g_subsystems = TAILQ_HEAD_INITIALIZER(g_subsystems);
@@ -333,7 +331,8 @@ spdk_nvmf_startup(spdk_event_t event)
 	}
 
 	spdk_poller_register(&g_acceptor_poller, acceptor_poll, NULL,
-			     g_spdk_nvmf_tgt_conf.acceptor_lcore, NULL, ACCEPT_TIMEOUT_US);
+			     g_spdk_nvmf_tgt_conf.acceptor_lcore, NULL,
+			     g_spdk_nvmf_tgt_conf.acceptor_poll_rate);
 
 	SPDK_NOTICELOG("Acceptor running on core %u\n", g_spdk_nvmf_tgt_conf.acceptor_lcore);
 
diff --git a/app/nvmf_tgt/nvmf_tgt.h b/app/nvmf_tgt/nvmf_tgt.h
index ff53b02786..26dbb1caa5 100644
--- a/app/nvmf_tgt/nvmf_tgt.h
+++ b/app/nvmf_tgt/nvmf_tgt.h
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ struct rpc_listen_address {
 
 struct spdk_nvmf_tgt_conf {
 	uint32_t acceptor_lcore;
+	uint32_t acceptor_poll_rate;
 };
 
 struct nvmf_tgt_subsystem {
diff --git a/etc/spdk/nvmf.conf.in b/etc/spdk/nvmf.conf.in
index d5c684b3c8..b48aa73e38 100644
--- a/etc/spdk/nvmf.conf.in
+++ b/etc/spdk/nvmf.conf.in
@@ -52,6 +52,11 @@
   # Set the global acceptor lcore ID, lcores are numbered starting at 0.
   #AcceptorCore 0
 
+  # Set how often the acceptor polls for incoming connections. The acceptor is also
+  # responsible for polling existing connections that have gone idle. 0 means continuously
+  # poll. Units in microseconds.
+  AcceptorPollRate  1000
+
 # Define an NVMf Subsystem.
 # - NQN is required and must be unique.
 # - Core may be set or not. If set, the specified subsystem will run on