diff --git a/include/common/standard.h b/include/common/standard.h
index 9ed06688f..1a3020dc5 100644
--- a/include/common/standard.h
+++ b/include/common/standard.h
@@ -248,7 +248,7 @@ int cidr2dotted(int cidr, struct in_addr *mask);
  * is optionnal and either in the dotted or CIDR notation.
  * Note: "addr" can also be a hostname. Returns 1 if OK, 0 if error.
  */
-int str2net(const char *str, struct in_addr *addr, struct in_addr *mask);
+int str2net(const char *str, int resolve, struct in_addr *addr, struct in_addr *mask);
 
 /*
  * converts <str> to two struct in6_addr* which must be pre-allocated.
diff --git a/src/cfgparse.c b/src/cfgparse.c
index 6611d6cfc..5635c5716 100644
--- a/src/cfgparse.c
+++ b/src/cfgparse.c
@@ -2198,7 +2198,7 @@ int cfg_parse_listen(const char *file, int linenum, char **args, int kwm)
 		goto out;
 	}
 	else if (!strcmp(args[0], "monitor-net")) {  /* set the range of IPs to ignore */
-		if (!*args[1] || !str2net(args[1], &curproxy->mon_net, &curproxy->mon_mask)) {
+		if (!*args[1] || !str2net(args[1], 1, &curproxy->mon_net, &curproxy->mon_mask)) {
 			Alert("parsing [%s:%d] : '%s' expects address[/mask].\n",
 			      file, linenum, args[0]);
 			err_code |= ERR_ALERT | ERR_FATAL;
@@ -3928,7 +3928,7 @@ stats_error_parsing:
 			while (*(args[cur_arg])) {
 				if (!strcmp(args[cur_arg], "except")) {
 					/* suboption except - needs additional argument for it */
-					if (!*(args[cur_arg+1]) || !str2net(args[cur_arg+1], &curproxy->except_net, &curproxy->except_mask)) {
+					if (!*(args[cur_arg+1]) || !str2net(args[cur_arg+1], 1, &curproxy->except_net, &curproxy->except_mask)) {
 						Alert("parsing [%s:%d] : '%s %s %s' expects <address>[/mask] as argument.\n",
 						      file, linenum, args[0], args[1], args[cur_arg]);
 						err_code |= ERR_ALERT | ERR_FATAL;
@@ -3979,7 +3979,7 @@ stats_error_parsing:
 			while (*(args[cur_arg])) {
 				if (!strcmp(args[cur_arg], "except")) {
 					/* suboption except - needs additional argument for it */
-					if (!*(args[cur_arg+1]) || !str2net(args[cur_arg+1], &curproxy->except_to, &curproxy->except_mask_to)) {
+					if (!*(args[cur_arg+1]) || !str2net(args[cur_arg+1], 1, &curproxy->except_to, &curproxy->except_mask_to)) {
 						Alert("parsing [%s:%d] : '%s %s %s' expects <address>[/mask] as argument.\n",
 						      file, linenum, args[0], args[1], args[cur_arg]);
 						err_code |= ERR_ALERT | ERR_FATAL;
diff --git a/src/pattern.c b/src/pattern.c
index dad2472de..22aa9d4b7 100644
--- a/src/pattern.c
+++ b/src/pattern.c
@@ -405,7 +405,8 @@ int pat_parse_dotted_ver(const char *text, struct pattern *pattern, char **err)
  */
 int pat_parse_ip(const char *text, struct pattern *pattern, char **err)
 {
-	if (str2net(text, &pattern->val.ipv4.addr, &pattern->val.ipv4.mask)) {
+	if (str2net(text, global.mode & MODE_STARTING,
+	            &pattern->val.ipv4.addr, &pattern->val.ipv4.mask)) {
 		pattern->type = SMP_T_IPV4;
 		return 1;
 	}
diff --git a/src/standard.c b/src/standard.c
index 89af08f72..d435c3c5b 100644
--- a/src/standard.c
+++ b/src/standard.c
@@ -809,7 +809,7 @@ int cidr2dotted(int cidr, struct in_addr *mask) {
  * is optionnal and either in the dotted or CIDR notation.
  * Note: "addr" can also be a hostname. Returns 1 if OK, 0 if error.
  */
-int str2net(const char *str, struct in_addr *addr, struct in_addr *mask)
+int str2net(const char *str, int resolve, struct in_addr *addr, struct in_addr *mask)
 {
 	__label__ out_free, out_err;
 	char *c, *s;
@@ -834,6 +834,9 @@ int str2net(const char *str, struct in_addr *addr, struct in_addr *mask)
 	if (!inet_pton(AF_INET, s, addr)) {
 		struct hostent *he;
 
+		if (!resolve)
+			goto out_err;
+
 		if ((he = gethostbyname(s)) == NULL) {
 			goto out_err;
 		}