diff --git a/flink-core/src/main/java/org/apache/flink/api/common/io/LocatableInputSplitAssigner.java b/flink-core/src/main/java/org/apache/flink/api/common/io/LocatableInputSplitAssigner.java
index 47504256e7507dbccdbc0cbe629ab6be0e4063d6..2f8c2409cae0395ad9d60aad061df37d221608fe 100644
--- a/flink-core/src/main/java/org/apache/flink/api/common/io/LocatableInputSplitAssigner.java
+++ b/flink-core/src/main/java/org/apache/flink/api/common/io/LocatableInputSplitAssigner.java
@@ -180,8 +180,7 @@ public final class LocatableInputSplitAssigner implements InputSplitAssigner {
 			return false;
 		}
 		for (String h : hosts) {
-			final String hadoopHost = NetUtils.getHostnameFromFQDN(h.toLowerCase());
-			if (h != null && hadoopHost.toLowerCase().equals(flinkHost)) {
+			if (h != null && NetUtils.getHostnameFromFQDN(h.toLowerCase()).equals(flinkHost)) {
 				return true;
 			}
 		}
diff --git a/flink-core/src/main/java/org/apache/flink/util/NetUtils.java b/flink-core/src/main/java/org/apache/flink/util/NetUtils.java
index ead61ba6ad8128b6fb2437d21e9beda7c8434369..d2fcab847b3e87da27e0145627ac55ae4e787e35 100644
--- a/flink-core/src/main/java/org/apache/flink/util/NetUtils.java
+++ b/flink-core/src/main/java/org/apache/flink/util/NetUtils.java
@@ -26,6 +26,9 @@ public class NetUtils {
 	 * @return
 	 */
 	public static String getHostnameFromFQDN(String fqdn) {
+		if(fqdn == null) {
+			throw new IllegalArgumentException("Input string is null (fqdn)");
+		}
 		int dotPos = fqdn.indexOf('.');
 		if(dotPos == -1) {
 			return fqdn;
diff --git a/flink-runtime/src/main/java/org/apache/flink/runtime/instance/InstanceConnectionInfo.java b/flink-runtime/src/main/java/org/apache/flink/runtime/instance/InstanceConnectionInfo.java
index bb4171f53fcc030afae1a2b36df88c3ba218294e..9a7f930bc99e874a04f634b6824d58f2a8cb1134 100644
--- a/flink-runtime/src/main/java/org/apache/flink/runtime/instance/InstanceConnectionInfo.java
+++ b/flink-runtime/src/main/java/org/apache/flink/runtime/instance/InstanceConnectionInfo.java
@@ -63,7 +63,13 @@ public class InstanceConnectionInfo implements IOReadableWritable, Comparable<In
 	/**
 	 * The hostname
 	 */
-	private String hostname;
+	private String hostName;
+	
+	/**
+	 * This flag indicates if the FQDN hostname cound not be resolved and is represented
+	 * as an IP address (string).
+	 */
+	private boolean fqdnHostNameIsIP = false;
 
 
 	/**
@@ -94,6 +100,19 @@ public class InstanceConnectionInfo implements IOReadableWritable, Comparable<In
 		this.ipcPort = ipcPort;
 		this.dataPort = dataPort;
 		this.inetAddress = inetAddress;
+		
+		// get FQDN hostname on this TaskManager.
+		try {
+			this.fqdnHostName = this.inetAddress.getCanonicalHostName();
+		} catch (Throwable t) {
+			LOG.warn("Unable to determine hostname for TaskManager. The performance might be degraded since HDFS input split assignment is not possible");
+			if(LOG.isDebugEnabled()) {
+				LOG.debug("getCanonicalHostName() Exception", t);
+			}
+			// could not determine host name, so take IP textual representation
+			this.fqdnHostName = inetAddress.getHostAddress();
+			this.fqdnHostNameIsIP = true;
+		}
 	}
 
 	/**
@@ -135,27 +154,19 @@ public class InstanceConnectionInfo implements IOReadableWritable, Comparable<In
 	 * @return the host name of the instance
 	 */
 	public String getFQDNHostname() {
-		if (this.fqdnHostName == null) {
-			try {
-				this.fqdnHostName = this.inetAddress.getCanonicalHostName();
-			} catch (Throwable t) {
-				LOG.warn("Unable to determine hostname for TaskManager. The performance might be degraded since HDFS input split assignment is not possible");
-				if(LOG.isDebugEnabled()) {
-					LOG.debug("getCanonicalHostName() Exception", t);
-				}
-				// could not determine host name, so take IP textual representation
-				this.fqdnHostName = inetAddress.getHostAddress();
-			}
-		}
 		return this.fqdnHostName;
 	}
 	
 	public String getHostname() {
-		if(hostname == null) {
+		if(hostName == null) {
 			String fqdn = getFQDNHostname();
-			hostname = NetUtils.getHostnameFromFQDN(fqdn);
+			if(this.fqdnHostNameIsIP) { // fqdn to hostname translation is pointless if FQDN is an ip address.
+				hostName = fqdn;
+			} else {
+				hostName = NetUtils.getHostnameFromFQDN(fqdn);
+			}
 		}
-		return hostname;
+		return hostName;
 	}
 
 	public String getInetAdress() {
@@ -177,6 +188,8 @@ public class InstanceConnectionInfo implements IOReadableWritable, Comparable<In
 		this.dataPort = in.readInt();
 		
 		this.fqdnHostName = StringUtils.readNullableString(in);
+		this.hostName = StringUtils.readNullableString(in);
+		this.fqdnHostNameIsIP = in.readBoolean();
 
 		try {
 			this.inetAddress = InetAddress.getByAddress(address);
@@ -195,6 +208,8 @@ public class InstanceConnectionInfo implements IOReadableWritable, Comparable<In
 		out.writeInt(this.dataPort);
 		
 		StringUtils.writeNullableString(fqdnHostName, out);
+		StringUtils.writeNullableString(hostName, out);
+		out.writeBoolean(fqdnHostNameIsIP);
 	}
 
 	// --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------