diff --git a/crates/clawhdf5-remote/tests/common/server.rs b/crates/clawhdf5-remote/tests/common/server.rs
index 4749f50..a060a9d 100644
--- a/crates/clawhdf5-remote/tests/common/server.rs
+++ b/crates/clawhdf5-remote/tests/common/server.rs
@@ -3,7 +3,10 @@
 //! and Last-Modified with `If-Match` / `If-Unmodified-Since` (412), and
 //! switches to misbehave — ignore ranges (200 with the whole file), cut
 //! bodies short, answer 503, respond slowly, send no validators. It counts
-//! requests and body bytes, and logs every range asked for.
+//! requests and body bytes, and logs every range asked for — only for the
+//! paths it serves: a request for any other path (a local port scanner's
+//! `GET /`, say) is answered 404 and not counted, so request budgets in
+//! tests stay exact.
 
 #![allow(dead_code)]
 
@@ -45,7 +48,8 @@ pub struct Shared {
     pub fail_next: AtomicU32,
     /// Sleep this long before answering each request.
     pub delay_ms: AtomicU64,
-    /// Requests served (every status).
+    /// Requests for a served path (every status); requests for other
+    /// paths are not counted.
     pub requests: AtomicU64,
     /// Body bytes sent.
     pub bytes: AtomicU64,
@@ -223,14 +227,31 @@ fn serve(conn: TcpStream, s: &Shared) -> std::io::Result<()> {
                 headers.insert(k.trim().to_ascii_lowercase(), v.trim().to_string());
             }
         }
+        // The query string (a presigned URL's signature, say) is not part
+        // of the file's name.
+        let path = path.split('?').next().unwrap_or("").to_string();
+        let close = headers
+            .get("connection")
+            .is_some_and(|v| v.eq_ignore_ascii_case("close"));
+        let res = {
+            let files = s.files.read().unwrap();
+            files
+                .get(&path)
+                .map(|r| (r.data.clone(), r.etag.clone(), r.last_modified.clone()))
+        };
+        let Some((data, etag, lm)) = res else {
+            // Not ours: not counted, not delayed, no failure injected.
+            write!(out, "HTTP/1.1 404 Not Found\r\nContent-Length: 0\r\n\r\n")?;
+            if close {
+                return Ok(());
+            }
+            continue;
+        };
         s.requests.fetch_add(1, Ordering::SeqCst);
         let delay = s.delay_ms.load(Ordering::SeqCst);
         if delay > 0 {
             std::thread::sleep(Duration::from_millis(delay));
         }
-        let close = headers
-            .get("connection")
-            .is_some_and(|v| v.eq_ignore_ascii_case("close"));
         if s.fail_next
             .fetch_update(Ordering::SeqCst, Ordering::SeqCst, |n| n.checked_sub(1))
             .is_ok()
@@ -241,16 +262,6 @@ fn serve(conn: TcpStream, s: &Shared) -> std::io::Result<()> {
             )?;
             continue;
         }
-        let res = {
-            let files = s.files.read().unwrap();
-            files
-                .get(&path)
-                .map(|r| (r.data.clone(), r.etag.clone(), r.last_modified.clone()))
-        };
-        let Some((data, etag, lm)) = res else {
-            write!(out, "HTTP/1.1 404 Not Found\r\nContent-Length: 0\r\n\r\n")?;
-            continue;
-        };
         let len = data.len() as u64;
         let mut validators = String::new();
         if s.weak_etag.load(Ordering::SeqCst) {
diff --git a/crates/clawhdf5-remote/tests/http.rs b/crates/clawhdf5-remote/tests/http.rs
index 5a68072..2c95cd1 100644
--- a/crates/clawhdf5-remote/tests/http.rs
+++ b/crates/clawhdf5-remote/tests/http.rs
@@ -526,3 +526,21 @@ fn bad_urls_and_statuses_are_clean_errors() {
         "{err}"
     );
 }
+
+/// A request for a path the server does not serve (a local port scanner's
+/// `GET /`) does not count against a test's request budget.
+#[test]
+fn requests_for_other_paths_are_not_counted() {
+    use std::io::{Read, Write};
+    let server = Server::start(vec![("/m.h5".into(), multi_block_file())]);
+    let mut probe = std::net::TcpStream::connect(server.addr).unwrap();
+    probe
+        .write_all(b"GET / HTTP/1.1\r\nHost: x\r\nConnection: close\r\n\r\n")
+        .unwrap();
+    let mut answer = String::new();
+    probe.read_to_string(&mut answer).unwrap();
+    assert!(answer.starts_with("HTTP/1.1 404"), "{answer}");
+    storage_for_url(&server.url("/m.h5"), &quick()).unwrap();
+    assert_eq!(server.requests(), 1, "only the open counts");
+    assert_eq!(server.log().len(), 1);
+}