Method and system for testing and analyzing management servers

The current document is directed to methods and systems for testing and analyzing the operational characteristics of management servers that manage multiple host systems in distributed computing systems on which virtual data centers and other types of virtual infrastructure are implemented. Management servers are generally designed to manage host systems that include particular types of virtualization layers, referred to as "native host systems." In a described implementation, a management server is connected to a host-gateway appliance that includes host-gateway control logic implemented within a server computer. The host-gateway appliance allows a management server to interface to the management interfaces of non-native host systems that include visualization layers to which the management server is not designed to interface. The host-gateway appliance, in described implementations, is modified to simulate management interfaces of host systems in order to test and analyze the operational characteristics of the management server.