diff --git a/graffiti/service/address.go b/graffiti/service/address.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..69fc296a5700907743a31a6bc15039d3a23f3a40
--- /dev/null
+++ b/graffiti/service/address.go
@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+package service
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"net"
+	"strings"
+)
+
+// Address describes the service listening address and port
+type Address struct {
+	Addr string
+	Port int
+}
+
+func (sa Address) String() string {
+	return fmt.Sprintf("%s:%d", sa.Addr, sa.Port)
+}
+
+// AddressFromString returns a service address from a string, could be IPv4 or IPv6
+func AddressFromString(addressPort string) (Address, error) {
+	/* Backward compatibility for old format like : listen = 1234 */
+	if !strings.ContainsAny(addressPort, ".:") {
+		addressPort = "localhost:" + addressPort
+	} else if strings.HasPrefix(addressPort, ":") {
+		addressPort = "localhost" + addressPort
+	}
+
+	host, port, err := net.SplitHostPort(addressPort)
+	if err != nil {
+		return Address{}, err
+	}
+
+	portNum, err := net.LookupPort("", port)
+	if err != nil {
+		return Address{}, err
+	}
+
+	return Address{
+		Addr: host,
+		Port: portNum,
+	}, nil
+}
+
+// normalizeIPForURL returns a string normalized that can be used in URL. Brackets
+// will be used for IPV6 addresses.
+func normalizeIPForURL(ip net.IP) string {
+	if ip.To4() == nil {
+		return "[" + ip.String() + "]"
+	}
+	return ip.String()
+}