diff --git a/pkg/client/portforward/portforward.go b/pkg/client/portforward/portforward.go
index 73d39dfcfaa..de7b5882d76 100644
--- a/pkg/client/portforward/portforward.go
+++ b/pkg/client/portforward/portforward.go
@@ -183,17 +183,26 @@ func (pf *PortForwarder) forward() error {
 	return nil
 }
 
-// listenOnPort delegates listener creation and waits for new connections
-// in the background.
+// listenOnPort delegates tcp4 and tcp6 listener creation and waits for connections on both of these addresses.
+// If both listener creation fail, an error is raised.
 func (pf *PortForwarder) listenOnPort(port *ForwardedPort) error {
-	listener, err := pf.getListener("tcp", "localhost", port)
+	errTcp4 := pf.listenOnPortAndAddress(port, "tcp4", "127.0.0.1")
+	errTcp6 := pf.listenOnPortAndAddress(port, "tcp6", "[::1]")
+	if errTcp4 != nil && errTcp6 != nil {
+		return fmt.Errorf("All listeners failed to create with the following errors: %s, %s", errTcp4, errTcp6)
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+// listenOnPortAndAddress delegates listener creation and waits for new connections
+// in the background f
+func (pf *PortForwarder) listenOnPortAndAddress(port *ForwardedPort, protocol string, address string) error {
+	listener, err := pf.getListener(protocol, address, port)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
 	pf.listeners = append(pf.listeners, listener)
-
 	go pf.waitForConnection(listener, *port)
-
 	return nil
 }
 
@@ -213,7 +222,7 @@ func (pf *PortForwarder) getListener(protocol string, hostname string, port *For
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("Error parsing local port: %s from %s (%s)", err, listenerAddress, host)
 	}
 	port.Local = uint16(localPortUInt)
-	glog.Infof("Forwarding from %d -> %d", localPortUInt, port.Remote)
+	glog.Infof("Forwarding from %s:%d -> %d", hostname, localPortUInt, port.Remote)
 
 	return listener, nil
 }
diff --git a/pkg/client/portforward/portforward_test.go b/pkg/client/portforward/portforward_test.go
index 29f0a826c02..d9474e926a8 100644
--- a/pkg/client/portforward/portforward_test.go
+++ b/pkg/client/portforward/portforward_test.go
@@ -209,7 +209,7 @@ func (s *fakeUpgradeStream) Headers() http.Header {
 	return http.Header{}
 }
 
-type TestCase struct {
+type GetListenerTestCase struct {
 	Hostname                string
 	Protocol                string
 	ShouldRaiseError        bool
@@ -218,7 +218,7 @@ type TestCase struct {
 
 func TestGetListener(t *testing.T) {
 	var pf PortForwarder
-	testCases := []TestCase{
+	testCases := []GetListenerTestCase{
 		{
 			Hostname:                "localhost",
 			Protocol:                "tcp4",
@@ -247,20 +247,12 @@ func TestGetListener(t *testing.T) {
 			Protocol:         "tcp6",
 			ShouldRaiseError: true,
 		},
-	}
-
-	// On some linux systems, ::1 does not resolve to localhost but to localhost6 or
-	// ip6-localhost. To make the test case portable, we need to do a reverse lookup on ::1 and
-	// trying to bind a port with the name.
-	names, err := net.LookupAddr("::1")
-	if err == nil && len(names) > 0 {
-		ipv6TestCase := TestCase{
-			Hostname:                names[0],
-			Protocol:                "tcp6",
-			ShouldRaiseError:        false,
-			ExpectedListenerAddress: "::1",
-		}
-		testCases = append(testCases, ipv6TestCase)
+		{
+			// IPv6 address must be put into brackets. This test reveals this.
+			Hostname:         "::1",
+			Protocol:         "tcp6",
+			ShouldRaiseError: true,
+		},
 	}
 
 	for i, testCase := range testCases {