Exclude machines from network virtualization

In some situations, you may need to exclude certain machines from network virtualization. For example, consider the following real-life situation. Users operate an application that accesses a number of servers. All the servers are located far away from the users, except for a single server that is located close to the users. When this scenario is emulated in a testing environment, network virtualization should be applied to all the emulated distant servers, whereas the near-by server should be excluded from network virtualization.

To exclude a machine from network virtualization, you add the IP address of the machine to an IP filter. For details, see IP filter and Create a local IP filter for a virtual location.

The following are situations to consider excluding a machine from network virtualization:

• In a multi-protocol scenario or test that includes a Web server and a database server. If information from the database server is not required as a part of the load test, then you should exclude the database server.
• Deployment and software upgrade servers.
• Servers that run and store scripts on a shared network drive.