diff --git a/its/core-it-suite/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/it/IntegrationTestSuite.java b/its/core-it-suite/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/it/IntegrationTestSuite.java
index 283014fb65..7bc8771820 100644
--- a/its/core-it-suite/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/it/IntegrationTestSuite.java
+++ b/its/core-it-suite/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/it/IntegrationTestSuite.java
@@ -392,6 +392,7 @@ public class IntegrationTestSuite
suite.addTestSuite( MavenITmng2790LastUpdatedMetadataTest.class );
suite.addTestSuite( MavenITmng2749ExtensionAvailableToPluginTest.class );
suite.addTestSuite( MavenITmng2744checksumVerificationTest.class );
+ suite.addTestSuite( MavenITmng2741PluginMetadataResolutionErrorMessageTest.class );
suite.addTestSuite( MavenITmng2739RequiredRepositoryElementsTest.class );
suite.addTestSuite( MavenITmng2720SiblingClasspathArtifactsTest.class );
suite.addTestSuite( MavenITmng2695OfflinePluginSnapshotsTest.class );
diff --git a/its/core-it-suite/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/it/MavenITmng2741PluginMetadataResolutionErrorMessageTest.java b/its/core-it-suite/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/it/MavenITmng2741PluginMetadataResolutionErrorMessageTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..42f4b631e7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/its/core-it-suite/src/test/java/org/apache/maven/it/MavenITmng2741PluginMetadataResolutionErrorMessageTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,96 @@
+package org.apache.maven.it;
+
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements. See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership. The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+
+import org.apache.maven.it.Verifier;
+import org.apache.maven.it.util.ResourceExtractor;
+
+import java.io.File;
+import java.util.List;
+
+/**
+ * This is a test set for MNG-2741.
+ *
+ * @version $Id$
+ */
+public class MavenITmng2741PluginMetadataResolutionErrorMessageTest
+ extends AbstractMavenIntegrationTestCase
+{
+
+ public MavenITmng2741PluginMetadataResolutionErrorMessageTest()
+ {
+ super( "[2.1.0,3.0-alpha-1),[3.0-alpha-8,)" );
+ }
+
+ /**
+ * Tests that plugin prefix metadata resolution errors tell the underlying transport issue.
+ */
+ public void testitPrefix()
+ throws Exception
+ {
+ testit( "prefix", "foo:bar" );
+ }
+
+ /**
+ * Tests that plugin version metadata resolution errors tell the underlying transport issue.
+ */
+ public void testitVersion()
+ throws Exception
+ {
+ testit( "version", "org.apache.maven.its.mng2741:maven-it-plugin:foo" );
+ }
+
+ private void testit( String test, String goal )
+ throws Exception
+ {
+ File testDir = ResourceExtractor.simpleExtractResources( getClass(), "/mng-2741" );
+
+ Verifier verifier = new Verifier( testDir.getAbsolutePath() );
+ verifier.setAutoclean( false );
+ verifier.setLogFileName( "log-" + test + ".txt" );
+ verifier.getCliOptions().add( "--settings" );
+ verifier.getCliOptions().add( "settings.xml" );
+ try
+ {
+ verifier.executeGoal( goal );
+ fail( "Build should have failed to resolve plugin prefix" );
+ }
+ catch ( VerificationException e )
+ {
+ boolean foundCause = false;
+ List lines = verifier.loadLines( verifier.getLogFileName(), "UTF-8" );
+ for ( int i = 0; i < lines.size(); i++ )
+ {
+ String line = lines.get( i ).toString();
+ if ( line.matches( ".*Connection refused.*" ) )
+ {
+ foundCause = true;
+ break;
+ }
+ }
+ assertTrue( "Transfer error cause was not found", foundCause );
+ }
+ finally
+ {
+ verifier.resetStreams();
+ }
+ }
+
+}
diff --git a/its/core-it-suite/src/test/resources/mng-2741/pom.xml b/its/core-it-suite/src/test/resources/mng-2741/pom.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..4f7fd5f548
--- /dev/null
+++ b/its/core-it-suite/src/test/resources/mng-2741/pom.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+
+
+
+
+
+ 4.0.0
+
+ org.apache.maven.its.mng2741
+ test
+ jar
+ 1
+
+ Maven Integration Test :: MNG-2741
+
+ Tests that plugin prefix/version metadata resolution errors tell the underlying transport issue.
+
+
diff --git a/its/core-it-suite/src/test/resources/mng-2741/settings.xml b/its/core-it-suite/src/test/resources/mng-2741/settings.xml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..d1b5eb4ab6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/its/core-it-suite/src/test/resources/mng-2741/settings.xml
@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ org.apache.maven.its.mng2741
+
+
+
+ maven-core-it-repo
+
+
+ central
+ http://localhost:54312/repo
+
+ ignore
+
+
+ ignore
+
+
+
+
+
+ central
+ http://localhost:54312/repo
+
+ ignore
+
+
+ ignore
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ maven-core-it-repo
+
+