diff --git a/include/fluent-bit/flb_network.h b/include/fluent-bit/flb_network.h
index 6437d318014..18f9aad37f0 100644
--- a/include/fluent-bit/flb_network.h
+++ b/include/fluent-bit/flb_network.h
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ int flb_net_socket_nonblocking(int sockfd);
 int flb_net_socket_tcp_fastopen(int sockfd);
 
 /* Socket handling */
-int flb_net_socket_create();
+int flb_net_socket_create(int family, int nonblock);
 int flb_net_tcp_connect(char *host, unsigned long port);
 int flb_net_server(char *port, char *listen_addr);
 int flb_net_bind(int socket_fd, const struct sockaddr *addr,
diff --git a/src/flb_network.c b/src/flb_network.c
index d127a24baa5..1de428dcd99 100644
--- a/src/flb_network.c
+++ b/src/flb_network.c
@@ -75,17 +75,19 @@ int flb_net_socket_tcp_fastopen(int sockfd)
     return setsockopt(sockfd, SOL_TCP, TCP_FASTOPEN, &qlen, sizeof(qlen));
 }
 
-int flb_net_socket_create()
+int flb_net_socket_create(int family, int nonblock)
 {
     int fd;
 
     /* create the socket and set the nonblocking flag status */
-    fd = socket(AF_INET, SOCK_STREAM, 0);
+    fd = socket(family, SOCK_STREAM, 0);
     if (fd <= 0) {
         perror("socket");
         return -1;
     }
-    flb_net_socket_tcp_nodelay(fd);
+    if (nonblock) {
+        flb_net_socket_tcp_nodelay(fd);
+    }
 
     return fd;
 }
@@ -93,35 +95,45 @@ int flb_net_socket_create()
 /* Connect to a TCP socket server and returns the file descriptor */
 int flb_net_tcp_connect(char *host, unsigned long port)
 {
-    int sock_fd;
-    struct sockaddr_in *remote;
-    struct hostent *hostp;
+    int socket_fd = -1;
+    int ret;
+    struct addrinfo hints;
+    struct addrinfo *res, *rp;
+    char _port[6];
+
+    memset(&hints, 0, sizeof hints);
+    hints.ai_family = AF_UNSPEC;
+    hints.ai_socktype = SOCK_STREAM;
 
-    sock_fd = socket(AF_INET, SOCK_STREAM, 0);
-    if (sock_fd <= 0) {
-        printf("Error: could not create socket\n");
+    snprintf(_port, sizeof(_port), "%lu", port);
+    ret = getaddrinfo(host, _port, &hints, &res);
+    if (ret != 0) {
+        flb_message(FLB_MSG_ERROR, "net_tcp_connect: Can't get addr info");
         return -1;
     }
 
-    remote = (struct sockaddr_in *) malloc(sizeof(struct sockaddr_in));
-    remote->sin_family = AF_INET;
+    for (rp = res; rp != NULL; rp = rp->ai_next) {
+        socket_fd = flb_net_socket_create(rp->ai_family, 0);
+        if (socket_fd == -1) {
+            flb_message(FLB_MSG_ERROR, "Error creating client socket, retrying");
+            continue;
+        }
 
-    hostp = gethostbyname(host);
-    if (hostp == NULL) {
-        close(sock_fd);
-        return -1;
+        if (connect(socket_fd, rp->ai_addr, rp->ai_addrlen) == -1) {
+            flb_message(FLB_MSG_ERROR, "Cannot connect to %s port %s", host, _port);
+            close(socket_fd);
+            continue;
+        }
+        break;
     }
-    memcpy(&remote->sin_addr, hostp->h_addr, sizeof(remote->sin_addr));
-    remote->sin_port = htons(port);
-    if (connect(sock_fd,
-                (struct sockaddr *) remote, sizeof(struct sockaddr)) == -1) {
-        close(sock_fd);
-        free(remote);
+
+    freeaddrinfo(res);
+
+    if (rp == NULL) {
         return -1;
     }
 
-    free(remote);
-    return sock_fd;
+    return socket_fd;
 }
 
 int flb_net_server(char *port, char *listen_addr)
@@ -143,7 +155,7 @@ int flb_net_server(char *port, char *listen_addr)
     }
 
     for (rp = res; rp != NULL; rp = rp->ai_next) {
-        socket_fd = flb_net_socket_create();
+        socket_fd = flb_net_socket_create(rp->ai_family, 1);
         if (socket_fd == -1) {
             flb_message(FLB_MSG_ERROR, "Error creating server socket, retrying");
             continue;
@@ -154,7 +166,8 @@ int flb_net_server(char *port, char *listen_addr)
 
         ret = flb_net_bind(socket_fd, rp->ai_addr, rp->ai_addrlen, 128);
         if(ret == -1) {
-            flb_message(FLB_MSG_WARN, "Cannot listen on %s:%s\n", listen_addr, port);
+            flb_message(FLB_MSG_WARN, "Cannot listen on %s port %s", listen_addr, port);
+            close(socket_fd);
             continue;
         }
         break;
diff --git a/src/flb_output.c b/src/flb_output.c
index d719d15d358..886368ca37e 100644
--- a/src/flb_output.c
+++ b/src/flb_output.c
@@ -47,42 +47,40 @@ static char *copy_substr(char *str, int s)
 static int split_address(struct flb_output_plugin *plugin, char *output)
 {
     int len;
-    char *sep;
-    char *tmp;
-    char *buf;
-
+    char *s, *e;
 
     len = strlen(plugin->name) + 3;
     if (strlen(output) <= len) {
         return -1;
     }
 
-    tmp = output + len;
-    sep = strchr(output + len, ':');
-    if (sep) {
-        len = (sep - tmp);
-        plugin->host = copy_substr(tmp, sep - tmp);
-
-        tmp += len + 1;
-        len = strlen(tmp);
-        if (len == 0) {
-            plugin->port = atoi(FLB_OUTPUT_FLUENT_PORT);
-            return 0;
+    s = output + len;
+    if (*s == '[') {
+        /* IPv6 address (RFC 3986) */
+        e = strchr(++s, ']');
+        if (!e) {
+            return -1;
         }
-        buf = copy_substr(tmp, len);
-        plugin->port = atoi(buf);
-        free(buf);
-        return 0;
-    }
-    else {
-        if (strlen(tmp) == 0) {
+        plugin->host = copy_substr(s, e - s);
+        s = e + 1;
+    } else {
+        e = s;
+        while (!(*e == '\0' || *e == ':')) {
+            ++e;
+        }
+        if (e == s) {
             return -1;
         }
-
-        plugin->host = strdup(tmp);
+        plugin->host = copy_substr(s, e - s);
+        s = e;
+    }
+    if (*s == ':') {
+        plugin->port = atoi(++s);
+    }
+    else {
         plugin->port = atoi(FLB_OUTPUT_FLUENT_PORT);
-        return 0;
     }
+    return 0;
 }
 
 /* Validate the the output address protocol */