diff --git a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-util/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/util/NetworkUtil.java b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-util/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/util/NetworkUtil.java
index 3f6e90c..1b56440 100644
--- a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-util/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/util/NetworkUtil.java
+++ b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-util/src/main/java/org/apache/hyracks/util/NetworkUtil.java
@@ -103,6 +103,17 @@
         return hosts;
     }
 
+    public static String defaultPort(String maybeHostPort, int defaultPort) {
+        String encodedInput = encodeIPv6LiteralHost(maybeHostPort);
+        int lastColon = encodedInput.lastIndexOf(':');
+        int closeBracket = encodedInput.lastIndexOf(']');
+        if (lastColon > 0 && lastColon > closeBracket) {
+            return maybeHostPort;
+        } else {
+            return encodedInput + ":" + defaultPort;
+        }
+    }
+
     public static String encodeIPv6LiteralHost(String hostname) {
         return InetAddressUtils.isIPv6Address(hostname) ? "[" + hostname + "]" : hostname;
     }
diff --git a/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-util/src/test/java/org/apache/hyracks/util/NetworkUtilTest.java b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-util/src/test/java/org/apache/hyracks/util/NetworkUtilTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c5d42c5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/hyracks-fullstack/hyracks/hyracks-util/src/test/java/org/apache/hyracks/util/NetworkUtilTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+package org.apache.hyracks.util;
+
+import org.apache.logging.log4j.LogManager;
+import org.apache.logging.log4j.Logger;
+import org.junit.Assert;
+import org.junit.Test;
+
+public class NetworkUtilTest {
+
+    private static final Logger LOGGER = LogManager.getLogger();
+
+    @Test
+    public void testDefaultPort() {
+        Assert.assertEquals("127.0.0.1:1234", NetworkUtil.defaultPort("127.0.0.1:1234", 9999));
+        Assert.assertEquals("127.0.0.1:9999", NetworkUtil.defaultPort("127.0.0.1", 9999));
+        Assert.assertEquals("[::1]:1234", NetworkUtil.defaultPort("[::1]:1234", 9999));
+        Assert.assertEquals("[::1]:9999", NetworkUtil.defaultPort("::1", 9999));
+        Assert.assertEquals("localhost.localdomain.local:9999",
+                NetworkUtil.defaultPort("localhost.localdomain.local", 9999));
+        Assert.assertEquals("localhost.localdomain.local:1234",
+                NetworkUtil.defaultPort("localhost.localdomain.local:1234", 9999));
+
+    }
+}