diff --git a/htroot/IndexCreateQueues_p.java b/htroot/IndexCreateQueues_p.java
index 3adf3fa04..393889daf 100644
--- a/htroot/IndexCreateQueues_p.java
+++ b/htroot/IndexCreateQueues_p.java
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ import java.util.regex.PatternSyntaxException;
 
 import net.yacy.cora.document.encoding.ASCII;
 import net.yacy.cora.document.id.DigestURL;
+import net.yacy.cora.protocol.Domains;
 import net.yacy.cora.protocol.RequestHeader;
 import net.yacy.cora.util.ConcurrentLog;
 import net.yacy.crawler.CrawlSwitchboard;
@@ -141,8 +142,7 @@ public class IndexCreateQueues_p {
             int hc = 0;
             for (Map.Entry<String, Integer[]> host: hosts.entrySet()) {
                 String hostnameport = host.getKey();
-                int p = hostnameport.lastIndexOf(':');
-                String hostname = p < 0 ? hostnameport : hostnameport.substring(0, p);
+                String hostname = Domains.stripToHostName(hostnameport);
                 prop.putHTML("crawler_host_" + hc + "_hostnameport", hostnameport);
                 prop.putHTML("crawler_host_" + hc + "_hostname", hostname);
                 prop.put("crawler_host_" + hc + "_embed", embed ? 1 : 0);
diff --git a/htroot/Settings_p.java b/htroot/Settings_p.java
index 6e1adb458..3b8eab40c 100644
--- a/htroot/Settings_p.java
+++ b/htroot/Settings_p.java
@@ -108,7 +108,7 @@ public final class Settings_p {
         } else {
             prop.put("use_proxyAccounts", "1"); //checked
             /*s = env.getConfig("proxyAccount", "proxy:void");
-            pos = s.indexOf(":");
+            pos = s.indexOf(':');
             if (pos < 0) {
                 prop.put("proxyuser","proxy");
             } else {
diff --git a/source/net/yacy/cora/document/id/MultiProtocolURL.java b/source/net/yacy/cora/document/id/MultiProtocolURL.java
index 9caa078c2..d1077d0ec 100644
--- a/source/net/yacy/cora/document/id/MultiProtocolURL.java
+++ b/source/net/yacy/cora/document/id/MultiProtocolURL.java
@@ -155,7 +155,7 @@ public class MultiProtocolURL implements Serializable, Comparable<MultiProtocolU
             url = "file://" + url;
         }
 
-        int p = url.indexOf(':');
+        int p = url.indexOf("://");
         if (p < 0) {
             url = "http://" + url;
             p = 4;
diff --git a/source/net/yacy/cora/protocol/Domains.java b/source/net/yacy/cora/protocol/Domains.java
index 8a0d1ef21..b3750b4bf 100644
--- a/source/net/yacy/cora/protocol/Domains.java
+++ b/source/net/yacy/cora/protocol/Domains.java
@@ -791,12 +791,78 @@ public class Domains {
 
     final private static TimeLimiter timeLimiter = new SimpleTimeLimiter(Executors.newFixedThreadPool(20));
 
+    /**
+     * strip off any parts of an url, address string (containing host/ip:port) or raw IPs/Hosts,
+     * considering that the host may also be an (IPv4) IP or a IPv6 IP in brackets.
+     * @param target
+     * @return a host name or IP string
+     */
+    public static String stripToHostName(String target) {
+        // normalize
+        if (target == null || target.isEmpty()) return null;
+        target = target.toLowerCase().trim(); // we can lowercase this because host names are case-insensitive
+        
+        // extract the address (host:port) part (applies if this is an url)
+        int p = target.indexOf("://");
+        if (p > 0) target = target.substring(p + 3);
+        p = target.indexOf('/');
+        if (p > 0) target = target.substring(0, p);
+        
+        // IPv4 / host heuristics
+        p = target.lastIndexOf(':');        
+        if ( p < 0 ) {
+            // may be IPv4 or IPv6, we chop off brackets if exist
+            if (target.charAt(0) == '[') target = target.substring(1);
+            if (target.charAt(target.length() - 1) == ']') target = target.substring(0, target.length() - 1);
+            return target;
+        }
+        
+        // the ':' at pos p may be either a port divider or a part of an IPv6 address
+        if (target.charAt(p - 1) == ']') {
+            target = target.substring(1, p - 1);
+            return target;
+        }
+        
+        // the ':' must be a port divider
+        target = target.substring(0, p);
+        return target;
+    }
+    
+    public static int stripToPort(String target) {
+        int port = 80; // default port
+        
+        // normalize
+        if (target == null || target.isEmpty()) return port;
+        target = target.toLowerCase().trim(); // we can lowercase this because host names are case-insensitive
+        
+        // extract the address (host:port) part (applies if this is an url)
+        int p = target.indexOf("://");
+        if (p > 0) {
+            String protocol = target.substring(0, p);
+            target = target.substring(p + 3);
+            if ("https".equals(protocol)) port = 443;
+            if ("ftp".equals(protocol)) port = 21;
+            if ("smb".equals(protocol)) port = 445;
+        }
+        p = target.indexOf('/');
+        if (p > 0) target = target.substring(0, p);
+        
+        // IPv4 / host heuristics
+        p = target.lastIndexOf(':');        
+        if ( p < 0 ) return port;
+
+        // the ':' must be a port divider
+        port = Integer.parseInt(target.substring(p + 1));
+        return port;
+    }
+    
     /**
      * resolve a host address using a local DNS cache and a DNS lookup if necessary
      * @param clienthost
      * @return the hosts InetAddress or null if the address cannot be resolved
      */
     public static InetAddress dnsResolve(final String host0) {
+        // consider to call stripToHostName() before calling this
         if (host0 == null || host0.isEmpty()) return null;
         final String host = host0.toLowerCase().trim();
 
diff --git a/source/net/yacy/cora/protocol/HeaderFramework.java b/source/net/yacy/cora/protocol/HeaderFramework.java
index 969ccaff2..e7886b444 100644
--- a/source/net/yacy/cora/protocol/HeaderFramework.java
+++ b/source/net/yacy/cora/protocol/HeaderFramework.java
@@ -574,7 +574,7 @@ public class HeaderFramework extends TreeMap<String, String> implements Map<Stri
         //String ip =      conProp.getProperty(httpHeader.CONNECTION_PROP_CLIENTIP); // the ip from the connecting peer
 
         int port, pos;
-        if ((pos = host.indexOf(':')) < 0) {
+        if ((pos = host.lastIndexOf(':')) < 0 || host.charAt(pos - 1) != ']') {
             port = 80;
         } else {
             port = NumberTools.parseIntDecSubstring(host, pos + 1);
diff --git a/source/net/yacy/http/AbstractRemoteHandler.java b/source/net/yacy/http/AbstractRemoteHandler.java
index 998abd66d..e9955e84c 100644
--- a/source/net/yacy/http/AbstractRemoteHandler.java
+++ b/source/net/yacy/http/AbstractRemoteHandler.java
@@ -93,9 +93,7 @@ abstract public class AbstractRemoteHandler extends ConnectHandler implements Ha
 
         String host = request.getHeader("Host");
         if (host == null) return; // no proxy request, continue processing by handlers
-                   
-        int hostSplitPos = host.indexOf(':');
-        String hostOnly = hostSplitPos < 0 ? host : host.substring(0, hostSplitPos);
+        String hostOnly = Domains.stripToHostName(host);
         
         if (localVirtualHostNames.contains(hostOnly)) return; // no proxy request (quick check), continue processing by handlers        
         if (Domains.isLocal(hostOnly, null)) return; // no proxy, continue processing by handlers
diff --git a/source/net/yacy/http/YacyDomainHandler.java b/source/net/yacy/http/YacyDomainHandler.java
index 5df7f3b13..149b5853d 100644
--- a/source/net/yacy/http/YacyDomainHandler.java
+++ b/source/net/yacy/http/YacyDomainHandler.java
@@ -72,16 +72,8 @@ public class YacyDomainHandler extends AbstractHandler implements Handler {
                 path = "";
                 hostPort = resolved;
             }
-            int posPort = hostPort.lastIndexOf(':');
-            String newHost;
-            int newPort;
-            if (posPort >= 0) {
-                newHost = hostPort.substring(0, posPort);
-                newPort = Integer.parseInt(hostPort.substring(posPort + 1));
-            } else {
-                newHost = hostPort;
-                newPort = 80;
-            }
+            int newPort = Domains.stripToPort(hostPort);
+            String newHost = Domains.stripToHostName(hostPort);
             if (alternativeResolvers.myIPs().contains(newHost)) return;  
             if (Domains.isLocal(newHost, null)) return;
             RequestDispatcher dispatcher = request.getRequestDispatcher(path + target);
diff --git a/source/net/yacy/peers/Protocol.java b/source/net/yacy/peers/Protocol.java
index 88aad5073..b465e5c95 100644
--- a/source/net/yacy/peers/Protocol.java
+++ b/source/net/yacy/peers/Protocol.java
@@ -232,12 +232,8 @@ public final class Protocol {
             } else {
                 try {
                     // patch the remote peer address to avoid that remote peers spoof the network with wrong addresses
-                    final int p = targetAddress.lastIndexOf(':');
-                    if ( p < 0 ) return null;
-                    String h = targetAddress.substring(0, p);
-                    if (h.charAt(0) == '[') h = h.substring(1);
-                    if (h.charAt(h.length() - 1) == ']') h = h.substring(0, h.length() - 1);
-                    InetAddress ie = Domains.dnsResolve(h);
+                    String host = Domains.stripToHostName(targetAddress);
+                    InetAddress ie = Domains.dnsResolve(host);
                     otherPeer = Seed.genRemoteSeed(seed, false, ie.getHostAddress());
                     if ( !otherPeer.hash.equals(targetHash) ) {
                         Network.log.info("yacyClient.hello: consistency error: otherPeer.hash = " + otherPeer.hash + ", otherHash = " + targetHash);
@@ -340,13 +336,10 @@ public final class Protocol {
             } else {
                 try {
                     if ( i == 1 ) {
-                        final int p = targetAddress.lastIndexOf(':');
-                        if ( p < 0 ) {
-                            return null;
-                        }
-                        InetAddress ia = Domains.dnsResolve(targetAddress.substring(0, p));
+                        String host = Domains.stripToHostName(targetAddress);
+                        InetAddress ia = Domains.dnsResolve(host);
                         if (ia == null) continue;
-                        final String host = ia.getHostAddress(); // the actual address of the target as we had been successful when contacting them is patched here
+                        host = ia.getHostAddress(); // the actual address of the target as we had been successful when contacting them is patched here
                         s = Seed.genRemoteSeed(seedStr, false, host);
                     } else {
                         s = Seed.genRemoteSeed(seedStr, false, null);
diff --git a/source/net/yacy/server/http/HTTPDProxyHandler.java b/source/net/yacy/server/http/HTTPDProxyHandler.java
index 65e5760e6..ff8dcdfa8 100644
--- a/source/net/yacy/server/http/HTTPDProxyHandler.java
+++ b/source/net/yacy/server/http/HTTPDProxyHandler.java
@@ -423,13 +423,8 @@ public final class HTTPDProxyHandler {
             final String ip =      (String) conProp.get(HeaderFramework.CONNECTION_PROP_CLIENTIP); // the ip from the connecting peer
             final String httpVer = (String) conProp.get(HeaderFramework.CONNECTION_PROP_HTTP_VER); // the ip from the connecting peer
 
-            int port, pos;
-            if ((pos = host.indexOf(':')) < 0) {
-                port = 80;
-            } else {
-                port = Integer.parseInt(host.substring(pos + 1));
-                host = host.substring(0, pos);
-            }
+            int port = Domains.stripToPort(host);
+            host = Domains.stripToHostName(host);
 
             // resolve yacy and yacyh domains
             String yAddress = resolveYacyDomains(host);
@@ -438,10 +433,10 @@ public final class HTTPDProxyHandler {
             final String remotePath = (args == null) ? path : (path + "?" + args); // with leading '/'
 
             // remove yacy-subdomain-path, when accessing /env
-            if ( (yAddress != null)
+            if ((yAddress != null)
             		&& (remotePath.startsWith("/env"))
-            		&& ((pos = yAddress.indexOf('/')) != -1)
-            ) yAddress = yAddress.substring(0, yAddress.indexOf('/'));
+            		&& (yAddress.indexOf('/') != -1)
+               ) yAddress = yAddress.substring(0, yAddress.indexOf('/'));
 
             modifyProxyHeaders(requestHeader, httpVer);
 
@@ -1050,11 +1045,8 @@ public final class HTTPDProxyHandler {
         String orgHostName = (String) conProp.get(HeaderFramework.CONNECTION_PROP_HOST);
         if (orgHostName == null) orgHostName = "unknown";
         orgHostName = orgHostName.toLowerCase();
-        int pos = orgHostName.indexOf(':');
-        if (pos != -1) {
-            orgHostPort = orgHostName.substring(pos+1);
-            orgHostName = orgHostName.substring(0,pos);
-        }
+        orgHostPort = Integer.toString(Domains.stripToPort(orgHostName));
+        orgHostName = Domains.stripToHostName(orgHostName);
         String orgHostPath = (String) conProp.get(HeaderFramework.CONNECTION_PROP_PATH); if (orgHostPath == null) orgHostPath = "";
         String orgHostArgs = (String) conProp.get(HeaderFramework.CONNECTION_PROP_ARGS); if (orgHostArgs == null) orgHostArgs = "";
         if (orgHostArgs.length() > 0) orgHostArgs = "?" + orgHostArgs;
@@ -1078,7 +1070,7 @@ public final class HTTPDProxyHandler {
             if (addr != null) if (addr != null) testHostNames.add(testHostName);
         }
 
-        pos = orgHostName.lastIndexOf('.');
+        int pos = orgHostName.lastIndexOf('.');
         if (pos != -1) {
             final Iterator<String> iter = topLevelDomains.iterator();
             while (iter.hasNext()) {
diff --git a/source/net/yacy/server/http/HTTPDemon.java b/source/net/yacy/server/http/HTTPDemon.java
index d2b606aa8..51d51b9cb 100644
--- a/source/net/yacy/server/http/HTTPDemon.java
+++ b/source/net/yacy/server/http/HTTPDemon.java
@@ -144,14 +144,8 @@ public final class HTTPDemon {
             final String args = (String) conProp.get(HeaderFramework.CONNECTION_PROP_ARGS);
             final String method = (String) conProp.get(HeaderFramework.CONNECTION_PROP_METHOD);
 
-            final int port;
-            final int pos = host.indexOf(':');
-            if (pos != -1) {
-                port = NumberTools.parseIntDecSubstring(host, pos + 1);
-                host = host.substring(0, pos);
-            } else {
-                port = 80;
-            }
+            final int port = Domains.stripToPort(host);
+            host = Domains.stripToHostName(host);
 
             String urlString;
             try {