diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/web/resources/NamenodeWebHdfsMethods.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/web/resources/NamenodeWebHdfsMethods.java
index 0dea48a7c9..1e8d1a5a00 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/web/resources/NamenodeWebHdfsMethods.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/web/resources/NamenodeWebHdfsMethods.java
@@ -273,11 +273,19 @@ static DatanodeInfo chooseDatanode(final NameNode namenode,
       for (String host : StringUtils
           .getTrimmedStringCollection(excludeDatanodes)) {
         int idx = host.indexOf(":");
-        if (idx != -1) {          
-          excludes.add(bm.getDatanodeManager().getDatanodeByXferAddr(
-              host.substring(0, idx), Integer.parseInt(host.substring(idx + 1))));
+        Node excludeNode = null;
+        if (idx != -1) {
+          excludeNode = bm.getDatanodeManager().getDatanodeByXferAddr(
+             host.substring(0, idx), Integer.parseInt(host.substring(idx + 1)));
         } else {
-          excludes.add(bm.getDatanodeManager().getDatanodeByHost(host));
+          excludeNode = bm.getDatanodeManager().getDatanodeByHost(host);
+        }
+
+        if (excludeNode != null) {
+          excludes.add(excludeNode);
+        } else {
+          LOG.debug("DataNode {} was requested to be excluded, "
+                + "but it was not found.", host);
         }
       }
     }
diff --git a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/web/resources/TestWebHdfsDataLocality.java b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/web/resources/TestWebHdfsDataLocality.java
index 028e18c346..e009bc6032 100644
--- a/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/web/resources/TestWebHdfsDataLocality.java
+++ b/hadoop-hdfs-project/hadoop-hdfs/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hdfs/server/namenode/web/resources/TestWebHdfsDataLocality.java
@@ -239,6 +239,29 @@ public void testExcludeDataNodes() throws Exception {
     }
   }
 
+  @Test
+  public void testExcludeWrongDataNode() throws Exception {
+    final Configuration conf = WebHdfsTestUtil.createConf();
+    final String[] racks = {RACK0};
+    final String[] hosts = {"DataNode1"};
+    final int nDataNodes = hosts.length;
+
+    final MiniDFSCluster cluster = new MiniDFSCluster.Builder(conf)
+        .hosts(hosts).numDataNodes(nDataNodes).racks(racks).build();
+    try {
+      cluster.waitActive();
+      final NameNode namenode = cluster.getNameNode();
+      NamenodeWebHdfsMethods.chooseDatanode(
+          namenode, "/path", PutOpParam.Op.CREATE, 0,
+          DFSConfigKeys.DFS_BLOCK_SIZE_DEFAULT,
+          "DataNode2", LOCALHOST, null);
+    } catch (Exception e) {
+      Assert.fail("Failed to exclude DataNode2" + e.getMessage());
+    } finally {
+      cluster.shutdown();
+    }
+  }
+
   @Test
   public void testChooseDatanodeBeforeNamesystemInit() throws Exception {
     NameNode nn = mock(NameNode.class);