diff --git clients/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/clients/NetworkClient.java clients/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/clients/NetworkClient.java
index b7ae595..a58de7e 100644
--- clients/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/clients/NetworkClient.java
+++ clients/src/main/java/org/apache/kafka/clients/NetworkClient.java
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@
 package org.apache.kafka.clients;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.net.InetAddress;
 import java.net.InetSocketAddress;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.List;
@@ -494,12 +495,26 @@ public class NetworkClient implements KafkaClient {
      */
     private void initiateConnect(Node node, long now) {
         try {
-            log.debug("Initiating connection to node {} at {}:{}.", node.id(), node.host(), node.port());
-            this.connectionStates.connecting(node.id(), now);
-            selector.connect(node.id(),
-                             new InetSocketAddress(node.host(), node.port()),
-                             this.socketSendBuffer,
-                             this.socketReceiveBuffer);
+            InetAddress[] hostAddresses = InetAddress.getAllByName(node.host());
+            InetSocketAddress conn = null;
+            IOException lastException = null;
+            for (InetAddress addr : hostAddresses) {
+                if (conn == null) {
+                    try {
+                        lastException = null;
+                        conn = new InetSocketAddress(addr, node.port());
+                        selector.connect(node.id(),
+                                         conn,
+                                         this.socketSendBuffer,
+                                         this.socketReceiveBuffer);
+                        log.debug("Initiating connection to node {} at {}:{}.", node.id(), addr.toString(), node.port());
+                        this.connectionStates.connecting(node.id(), now);
+                    } catch (IOException e) {
+                        lastException = e;
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+            if (lastException != null) throw lastException;
         } catch (IOException e) {
             /* attempt failed, we'll try again after the backoff */
             connectionStates.disconnected(node.id());