NetBackup vSphere plugin may fail to add authentication token with "Connection refused"

Problem

When the Master Server name consist of an underscore, vSphere plugin fails to add authentication token.

Error Message

vSphere plugin error:

Failed to communicate with server using supplied auth token. Error: java.net.ConnectException: Connection refused. Please verify that NetBackup Master Server name, port, and auth token are valid

/opt/SYMCnbvcPlugin/tomcat/logs/recoveryportal.log:
[http-9445-1] 20 May 2014 19:03:13 INFO  com.symantec.nbu.netbackup4j.http.NBHttpClient : GET method url:https://master_name:8443/nbwebservice/server/master/master_name/timezone
[http-9445-1] 20 May 2014 19:03:13 INFO  com.symantec.nbu.netbackup4j.http.NBHttpClient : Setting connection timeout to 5000 mili seconds
[http-9445-1] 20 May 2014 19:03:13 INFO  com.symantec.nbu.netbackup4j.http.NBHttpClient : Setting socket timeout to 300000 mili seconds
[http-9445-1] 20 May 2014 19:03:13 INFO  org.apache.commons.httpclient.HttpMethodDirector : I/O exception (java.net.ConnectException) caught when processing request: Connection refused
[http-9445-1] 20 May 2014 19:03:13 INFO  org.apache.commons.httpclient.HttpMethodDirector : Retrying request
[http-9445-1] 20 May 2014 19:03:13 ERROR RecoveryPortal : Application threw exception
java.lang.Exception: Failed to communicate with server using supplied auth token. Error: java.net.ConnectException: Connection refused. Please verify that NetBackup Master Server name, port and auth token are valid

Cause

The issue is caused when using underscores "_" in the host name of the Master Server.  Internet Explorer does not play well with hostnames with underscores in the name.

A valid hostname cannot contain an underscore ("_") . Valid hostnames can contain only alphabets [A-Z], digits [0-9] and hyphen [-].

Please refer to RFCs:
RFC1912 (http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1912.txt)
RFC952 (http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc952.txt)
RFC1123 (http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1123.txt)

Per Hostname guidelines (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hostname):

"While a hostname may not contain other characters, such as the underscore character (_), other DNS names may contain the underscore. Systems such as DomainKeys and service records use the underscore as a means to assure that their special character is not confused with hostnames. For example, _http._sctp.www.example.com specifies a service pointer for an SCTP capable webserver host (www) in the domain example.com. Note that some applications (e.g. Microsoft Internet Explorer) won't work correctly if any part of the hostname contains an underscore character."

More information about Internet Explorer eating cookies when hostname include underscore can be found at:
http://blog.smartbear.com/software-quality/internet-explorer-eats-cookies-with-underscores-in-the-hostname/

This issue may also occur when using domain names with two characters.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310676

Solution

A valid hostname cannot contain an underscore ("_") . Valid hostnames can contain only alphabets [A-Z], digits [0-9] and hyphen [-].

Change the hostname of the Master server to reflect correct RFC standards.  It is necessary to engage Veritas Consultant services to change the name of the master server.

https://www.veritas.com/docs/000027320