diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 1202bbb1f..b7e4d3d5d 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,14 +1,15 @@
 ## v0.1.6 [unreleased]
 
 ### Features
-[#112](https://github.com/influxdb/telegraf/pull/112): Datadog output. Thanks @jipperinbham!
-[#116](https://github.com/influxdb/telegraf/pull/116): Use godep to vendor all dependencies
-[#120](https://github.com/influxdb/telegraf/pull/120): Httpjson plugin. Thanks @jpalay & @alvaromorales!
+- [#112](https://github.com/influxdb/telegraf/pull/112): Datadog output. Thanks @jipperinbham!
+- [#116](https://github.com/influxdb/telegraf/pull/116): Use godep to vendor all dependencies
+- [#120](https://github.com/influxdb/telegraf/pull/120): Httpjson plugin. Thanks @jpalay & @alvaromorales!
 
 ### Bugfixes
-[#113](https://github.com/influxdb/telegraf/issues/113): Update README with Telegraf/InfluxDB compatibility
-[#118](https://github.com/influxdb/telegraf/pull/118): Fix for disk usage stats in Windows. Thanks @srfraser!
-[#122](https://github.com/influxdb/telegraf/issues/122): Fix for DiskUsage segv fault. Thanks @srfraser!
+- [#113](https://github.com/influxdb/telegraf/issues/113): Update README with Telegraf/InfluxDB compatibility
+- [#118](https://github.com/influxdb/telegraf/pull/118): Fix for disk usage stats in Windows. Thanks @srfraser!
+- [#122](https://github.com/influxdb/telegraf/issues/122): Fix for DiskUsage segv fault. Thanks @srfraser!
+- [#126](https://github.com/influxdb/telegraf/issues/126): Nginx plugin not catching net.SplitHostPort error
 
 ## v0.1.5 [2015-08-13]
 
diff --git a/plugins/nginx/nginx.go b/plugins/nginx/nginx.go
index 75b17232b..00a7a174c 100644
--- a/plugins/nginx/nginx.go
+++ b/plugins/nginx/nginx.go
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ type Nginx struct {
 
 var sampleConfig = `
 # An array of Nginx stub_status URI to gather stats.
-urls = ["localhost/status"]`
+urls = ["http://localhost/status"]`
 
 func (n *Nginx) SampleConfig() string {
 	return sampleConfig
@@ -125,8 +125,8 @@ func (n *Nginx) gatherUrl(addr *url.URL, acc plugins.Accumulator) error {
 		return err
 	}
 
-	host, _, _ := net.SplitHostPort(addr.Host)
-	tags := map[string]string{"server": host}
+	tags := getTags(addr)
+
 	acc.Add("active", active, tags)
 	acc.Add("accepts", accepts, tags)
 	acc.Add("handled", handled, tags)
@@ -138,6 +138,18 @@ func (n *Nginx) gatherUrl(addr *url.URL, acc plugins.Accumulator) error {
 	return nil
 }
 
+// Get tag(s) for the nginx plugin
+func getTags(addr *url.URL) map[string]string {
+	h := addr.Host
+	var htag string
+	if host, _, err := net.SplitHostPort(h); err == nil {
+		htag = host
+	} else {
+		htag = h
+	}
+	return map[string]string{"server": htag}
+}
+
 func init() {
 	plugins.Add("nginx", func() plugins.Plugin {
 		return &Nginx{}
diff --git a/plugins/nginx/nginx_test.go b/plugins/nginx/nginx_test.go
index 6184f9b44..5e1eb1e79 100644
--- a/plugins/nginx/nginx_test.go
+++ b/plugins/nginx/nginx_test.go
@@ -14,12 +14,23 @@ import (
 )
 
 const sampleResponse = `
-Active connections: 585 
+Active connections: 585
 server accepts handled requests
- 85340 85340 35085 
-Reading: 4 Writing: 135 Waiting: 446 
+ 85340 85340 35085
+Reading: 4 Writing: 135 Waiting: 446
 `
 
+// Verify that nginx tags are properly parsed based on the server
+func TestNginxTags(t *testing.T) {
+	urls := []string{"http://localhost/endpoint", "http://localhost:80/endpoint"}
+	var addr *url.URL
+	for _, url1 := range urls {
+		addr, _ = url.Parse(url1)
+		tagMap := getTags(addr)
+		assert.Contains(t, tagMap["server"], "localhost")
+	}
+}
+
 func TestNginxGeneratesMetrics(t *testing.T) {
 	ts := httptest.NewServer(http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 		var rsp string