Example methods are provided for a network management entity to implement distributed network emulation in a virtualized computing environment. The method may comprise: generating a translated network emulation rule by translating a source identifier and a destination identifier in a network emulation rule to respective source network address and destination network address, and configuring a source host or destination host to apply the translated network emulation rule to emulate a desired network condition for one or more first packets from the source network address to the destination network address. The method may further comprise: in response to detecting that the source network address or destination network address has been updated, updating the source network address or destination network address in the translated network emulation rule; and reconfiguring the source host or destination host to apply the updated translated network emulation rule.