diff --git a/src/backend/distributed/connection/connection_management.c b/src/backend/distributed/connection/connection_management.c
index fffcfb93d..dcc4a701f 100644
--- a/src/backend/distributed/connection/connection_management.c
+++ b/src/backend/distributed/connection/connection_management.c
@@ -257,7 +257,6 @@ StartNodeUserDatabaseConnection(uint32 flags, const char *hostname, int32 port,
 	bool found;
 
 	/* do some minimal input checks */
-	strlcpy(key.hostname, hostname, MAX_NODE_LENGTH);
 	if (strlen(hostname) > MAX_NODE_LENGTH)
 	{
 		ereport(ERROR, (errcode(ERRCODE_INVALID_PARAMETER_VALUE),
@@ -265,6 +264,8 @@ StartNodeUserDatabaseConnection(uint32 flags, const char *hostname, int32 port,
 							   MAX_NODE_LENGTH)));
 	}
 
+	strlcpy(key.hostname, hostname, MAX_NODE_LENGTH);
+
 	key.port = port;
 	if (user)
 	{