diff --git a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/master/LoadBalancer.java b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/master/LoadBalancer.java
index 4611982af01..5025566f941 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/master/LoadBalancer.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/main/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/master/LoadBalancer.java
@@ -52,7 +52,8 @@ import edu.umd.cs.findbugs.annotations.Nullable;
 public interface LoadBalancer extends Configurable, Stoppable, ConfigurationObserver {
 
   // Used to signal to the caller that the region(s) cannot be assigned
-  ServerName BOGUS_SERVER_NAME = ServerName.valueOf("bogus.example.com,1,1");
+  // We deliberately use 'localhost' so the operation will fail fast
+  ServerName BOGUS_SERVER_NAME = ServerName.valueOf("localhost,1,1");
 
   /**
    * Set the current cluster status.  This allows a LoadBalancer to map host name to a server