diff --git a/go/test/endtoend/orchestrator/orc_test.go b/go/test/endtoend/orchestrator/orc_test.go
index e0da62d1baa..5c9870a7b47 100644
--- a/go/test/endtoend/orchestrator/orc_test.go
+++ b/go/test/endtoend/orchestrator/orc_test.go
@@ -475,8 +475,8 @@ func checkInsertedValues(t *testing.T, tablet *cluster.Vttablet, index int) erro
 
 func validateTopology(t *testing.T, cluster *cluster.LocalProcessCluster, pingTablets bool) {
 	if pingTablets {
-		err := cluster.VtctlclientProcess.ExecuteCommand("Validate", "-ping-tablets=true")
-		require.NoError(t, err)
+		out, err := cluster.VtctlclientProcess.ExecuteCommandWithOutput("Validate", "-ping-tablets=true")
+		require.NoError(t, err, out)
 	} else {
 		err := cluster.VtctlclientProcess.ExecuteCommand("Validate")
 		require.NoError(t, err)
diff --git a/go/test/endtoend/orchestrator/test_config.json b/go/test/endtoend/orchestrator/test_config.json
index 7494692bb7f..8344ed389ff 100644
--- a/go/test/endtoend/orchestrator/test_config.json
+++ b/go/test/endtoend/orchestrator/test_config.json
@@ -5,5 +5,7 @@
   "MySQLReplicaUser": "vt_repl",
   "MySQLReplicaPassword": "",
   "RecoveryPeriodBlockSeconds": 1,
-  "InstancePollSeconds": 1
+  "InstancePollSeconds": 1,
+  "Keyspace": "ks",
+  "Shard": "0"
 }
diff --git a/go/vt/orchestrator/config/config.go b/go/vt/orchestrator/config/config.go
index 360245a0ad1..dfadc717c85 100644
--- a/go/vt/orchestrator/config/config.go
+++ b/go/vt/orchestrator/config/config.go
@@ -255,6 +255,8 @@ type Configuration struct {
 	MaxConcurrentReplicaOperations             int               // Maximum number of concurrent operations on replicas
 	InstanceDBExecContextTimeoutSeconds        int               // Timeout on context used while calling ExecContext on instance database
 	LockShardTimeoutSeconds                    int               // Timeout on context used to lock shard. Should be a small value because we should fail-fast
+	Keyspace                                   string            // Keyspace that this instance is watching
+	Shard                                      string            // Shard that this instance is watching
 }
 
 // ToJSONString will marshal this configuration as JSON
@@ -429,6 +431,9 @@ func newConfiguration() *Configuration {
 }
 
 func (this *Configuration) postReadAdjustments() error {
+	if this.Keyspace == "" || this.Shard == "" {
+		log.Fatalf("Keyspace and Shard are required")
+	}
 	if this.MySQLOrchestratorCredentialsConfigFile != "" {
 		mySQLConfig := struct {
 			Client struct {
diff --git a/go/vt/orchestrator/logic/tablet_discovery.go b/go/vt/orchestrator/logic/tablet_discovery.go
index 6a44273aab8..bbcc33509ec 100644
--- a/go/vt/orchestrator/logic/tablet_discovery.go
+++ b/go/vt/orchestrator/logic/tablet_discovery.go
@@ -20,7 +20,6 @@ import (
 	"context"
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
-	"sync"
 	"time"
 
 	"vitess.io/vitess/go/vt/orchestrator/config"
@@ -32,7 +31,6 @@ import (
 	"vitess.io/vitess/go/vt/orchestrator/inst"
 	topodatapb "vitess.io/vitess/go/vt/proto/topodata"
 	"vitess.io/vitess/go/vt/topo"
-	"vitess.io/vitess/go/vt/topotools"
 	"vitess.io/vitess/go/vt/vttablet/tmclient"
 )
 
@@ -71,36 +69,16 @@ func refreshTabletsUsing(loader func(instanceKey *inst.InstanceKey)) {
 	}
 	ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), *topo.RemoteOperationTimeout)
 	defer cancel()
-	cells, err := ts.GetKnownCells(ctx)
+	tablets, err := ts.GetTabletMapForShard(ctx, config.Config.Keyspace, config.Config.Shard)
 	if err != nil {
-		log.Errore(err)
-		return
-	}
-
-	refreshCtx, refreshCancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), *topo.RemoteOperationTimeout)
-	defer refreshCancel()
-	var wg sync.WaitGroup
-	for _, cell := range cells {
-		wg.Add(1)
-		go func(cell string) {
-			defer wg.Done()
-			refreshTabletsInCell(refreshCtx, cell, loader)
-		}(cell)
-	}
-	wg.Wait()
-}
-
-func refreshTabletsInCell(ctx context.Context, cell string, loader func(instanceKey *inst.InstanceKey)) {
-	latestInstances := make(map[inst.InstanceKey]bool)
-	tablets, err := topotools.GetAllTablets(ctx, ts, cell)
-	if err != nil {
-		log.Errorf("Error fetching topo info for cell %v: %v", cell, err)
+		log.Errorf("Error fetching topo info for keyspace/shard %v/%v: %v", config.Config.Keyspace, config.Config.Shard, err)
 		return
 	}
 
 	// Discover new tablets.
 	// TODO(sougou): enhance this to work with multi-schema,
 	// where each instanceKey can have multiple tablets.
+	latestInstances := make(map[inst.InstanceKey]bool)
 	for _, tabletInfo := range tablets {
 		tablet := tabletInfo.Tablet
 		if tablet.MysqlHostname == "" {
@@ -132,8 +110,8 @@ func refreshTabletsInCell(ctx context.Context, cell string, loader func(instance
 
 	// Forget tablets that were removed.
 	toForget := make(map[inst.InstanceKey]*topodatapb.Tablet)
-	query := "select hostname, port, info from vitess_tablet where cell = ?"
-	err = db.QueryOrchestrator(query, sqlutils.Args(cell), func(row sqlutils.RowMap) error {
+	query := "select hostname, port, info from vitess_tablet"
+	err = db.QueryOrchestrator(query, nil, func(row sqlutils.RowMap) error {
 		curKey := inst.InstanceKey{
 			Hostname: row.GetString("hostname"),
 			Port:     row.GetInt("port"),
@@ -152,7 +130,7 @@ func refreshTabletsInCell(ctx context.Context, cell string, loader func(instance
 		log.Errore(err)
 	}
 	for instanceKey, tablet := range toForget {
-		log.Infof("Forgeting: %v", tablet)
+		log.Infof("Forgetting: %v", tablet)
 		_, err := db.ExecOrchestrator(`
 					delete
 						from vitess_tablet