diff --git a/plugins/discovery-gce/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cloud/gce/GceMetadataService.java b/plugins/discovery-gce/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cloud/gce/GceMetadataService.java
index 0f537112730..65021516f9f 100644
--- a/plugins/discovery-gce/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cloud/gce/GceMetadataService.java
+++ b/plugins/discovery-gce/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cloud/gce/GceMetadataService.java
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ import org.elasticsearch.common.component.LifecycleComponent;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Setting;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.net.URISyntaxException;
 import java.util.function.Function;
 
 /**
@@ -42,5 +43,5 @@ public interface GceMetadataService extends LifecycleComponent<GceMetadataServic
      * @return extracted information (for example a hostname or an IP address)
      * @throws IOException in case metadata URL is not accessible
      */
-    String metadata(String metadataPath) throws IOException;
+    String metadata(String metadataPath) throws IOException, URISyntaxException;
 }
diff --git a/plugins/discovery-gce/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cloud/gce/GceMetadataServiceImpl.java b/plugins/discovery-gce/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cloud/gce/GceMetadataServiceImpl.java
index f3d4ea589da..7ccf0d6a7a7 100644
--- a/plugins/discovery-gce/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cloud/gce/GceMetadataServiceImpl.java
+++ b/plugins/discovery-gce/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cloud/gce/GceMetadataServiceImpl.java
@@ -24,7 +24,6 @@ import com.google.api.client.http.GenericUrl;
 import com.google.api.client.http.HttpHeaders;
 import com.google.api.client.http.HttpResponse;
 import com.google.api.client.http.HttpTransport;
-import com.google.api.client.json.JsonFactory;
 import org.elasticsearch.SpecialPermission;
 import org.elasticsearch.cloud.gce.network.GceNameResolver;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.component.AbstractLifecycleComponent;
@@ -34,12 +33,13 @@ import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Setting;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.net.URI;
+import java.net.URISyntaxException;
 import java.net.URL;
 import java.security.AccessController;
 import java.security.GeneralSecurityException;
 import java.security.PrivilegedAction;
 import java.security.PrivilegedExceptionAction;
-import java.util.List;
 import java.util.function.Function;
 
 public class GceMetadataServiceImpl extends AbstractLifecycleComponent<GceMetadataService> implements GceMetadataService {
@@ -54,18 +54,10 @@ public class GceMetadataServiceImpl extends AbstractLifecycleComponent<GceMetada
     /** Global instance of the HTTP transport. */
     private HttpTransport gceHttpTransport;
 
-    // Forcing Google Token API URL as set in GCE SDK to
-    //      http://metadata/computeMetadata/v1/instance/service-accounts/default/token
-    // See https://developers.google.com/compute/docs/metadata#metadataserver
-    private final String gceHost;
-    private final String metaDataUrl;
-
     @Inject
     public GceMetadataServiceImpl(Settings settings, NetworkService networkService) {
         super(settings);
         networkService.addCustomNameResolver(new GceNameResolver(settings, this));
-        this.gceHost = GCE_HOST.get(settings);
-        this.metaDataUrl =  gceHost + "/computeMetadata/v1/instance";
     }
 
     protected synchronized HttpTransport getGceHttpTransport() throws GeneralSecurityException, IOException {
@@ -76,10 +68,12 @@ public class GceMetadataServiceImpl extends AbstractLifecycleComponent<GceMetada
     }
 
     @Override
-    public String metadata(String metadataPath) throws IOException {
-        String urlMetadataNetwork = this.metaDataUrl + "/" + metadataPath;
+    public String metadata(String metadataPath) throws IOException, URISyntaxException {
+        // Forcing Google Token API URL as set in GCE SDK to
+        //      http://metadata/computeMetadata/v1/instance/service-accounts/default/token
+        // See https://developers.google.com/compute/docs/metadata#metadataserver
+        final URI urlMetadataNetwork = new URI(GCE_HOST.get(settings)).resolve("/computeMetadata/v1/instance/").resolve(metadataPath);
         logger.debug("get metadata from [{}]", urlMetadataNetwork);
-        final URL url = new URL(urlMetadataNetwork);
         HttpHeaders headers;
         try {
             // hack around code messiness in GCE code
@@ -97,7 +91,7 @@ public class GceMetadataServiceImpl extends AbstractLifecycleComponent<GceMetada
             GenericUrl genericUrl = AccessController.doPrivileged(new PrivilegedAction<GenericUrl>() {
                 @Override
                 public GenericUrl run() {
-                    return new GenericUrl(url);
+                    return new GenericUrl(urlMetadataNetwork);
                 }
             });
 
diff --git a/plugins/discovery-gce/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cloud/gce/network/GceNameResolver.java b/plugins/discovery-gce/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cloud/gce/network/GceNameResolver.java
index 65a7d10e9bd..54f96a971ca 100644
--- a/plugins/discovery-gce/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cloud/gce/network/GceNameResolver.java
+++ b/plugins/discovery-gce/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cloud/gce/network/GceNameResolver.java
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.net.InetAddress;
+import java.net.URISyntaxException;
 
 /**
  * <p>Resolves certain GCE related 'meta' hostnames into an actual hostname
@@ -93,7 +94,7 @@ public class GceNameResolver extends AbstractComponent implements CustomNameReso
             // We extract the network interface from gce:privateIp:XX
             String network = "0";
             String[] privateIpConfig = value.split(":");
-            if (privateIpConfig != null && privateIpConfig.length == 3) {
+            if (privateIpConfig.length == 3) {
                 network = privateIpConfig[2];
             }
 
@@ -111,7 +112,7 @@ public class GceNameResolver extends AbstractComponent implements CustomNameReso
             }
             // only one address: because we explicitly ask for only one via the GceHostnameType
             return new InetAddress[] { InetAddress.getByName(metadataResult) };
-        } catch (IOException e) {
+        } catch (IOException | URISyntaxException e) {
             throw new IOException("IOException caught when fetching InetAddress from [" + gceMetadataPath + "]", e);
         }
     }