diff --git a/crates/cli/src/commands/relay.rs b/crates/cli/src/commands/relay.rs
index 1c92663a..2edd8d4a 100644
--- a/crates/cli/src/commands/relay.rs
+++ b/crates/cli/src/commands/relay.rs
@@ -403,11 +403,25 @@ mod tests {
         with_relay_server(
             |args| args.p2p.external_host = Some("www.google.com".into()),
             async |cfg| {
-                let response = relay_server_get(cfg, "/enr").await.unwrap();
-                let body = response.text().await.unwrap();
-                let enr = pluto_eth2util::enr::Record::try_from(body.as_str()).unwrap();
-
-                assert!(enr.ip().unwrap().is_loopback());
+                // Resolution happens asynchronously on a tick, so poll until the
+                // ENR reflects a non-loopback IP (mirrors the Go test using
+                // `assert.Eventually`).
+                tokio::time::timeout(time::Duration::from_secs(10), async {
+                    loop {
+                        let response = relay_server_get(cfg.clone(), "/enr").await.unwrap();
+                        let body = response.text().await.unwrap();
+                        let enr = pluto_eth2util::enr::Record::try_from(body.as_str()).unwrap();
+                        let ip = enr.ip().unwrap();
+
+                        if !ip.is_loopback() {
+                            break;
+                        }
+
+                        tokio::time::sleep(time::Duration::from_millis(200)).await;
+                    }
+                })
+                .await
+                .expect("external host never resolved to non-loopback ip");
             },
         )
         .await
diff --git a/crates/relay-server/src/web.rs b/crates/relay-server/src/web.rs
index 97576a0a..20e5f24d 100644
--- a/crates/relay-server/src/web.rs
+++ b/crates/relay-server/src/web.rs
@@ -329,13 +329,22 @@ async fn resolve_external_host_periodically(
 
 /// Resolves the external host to an IP address.
 async fn resolve_external_host(state: Arc<AppState>, external_host: &str) {
-    match tokio::net::lookup_host(external_host).await {
-        Ok(mut addrs) => {
-            if let Some(addr) = addrs.next()
-                && let IpAddr::V4(ipv4) = addr.ip()
-            {
+    // `tokio::net::lookup_host` requires a `host:port` input, but we only need
+    // the IP — use a dummy port of 0 so a bare hostname resolves correctly.
+    match tokio::net::lookup_host((external_host, 0)).await {
+        Ok(addrs) => {
+            let ipv4 = addrs
+                .filter_map(|a| match a.ip() {
+                    IpAddr::V4(v4) => Some(v4),
+                    IpAddr::V6(_) => None,
+                })
+                .next();
+
+            if let Some(ipv4) = ipv4 {
                 debug!("Resolved external host {external_host} to {ipv4}");
                 state.set_external_host_ip(Some(ipv4)).await;
+            } else {
+                warn!("External host {external_host} resolved with no IPv4 address");
             }
         }
         Err(e) => {