diff --git a/tools/marvin/marvin/lib/utils.py b/tools/marvin/marvin/lib/utils.py
index 4194e32da37..bdf5c09049e 100644
--- a/tools/marvin/marvin/lib/utils.py
+++ b/tools/marvin/marvin/lib/utils.py
@@ -348,7 +348,7 @@ def is_snapshot_on_nfs(apiclient, dbconn, config, zoneid, snapshotid):
     nfsurl = secondaryStore.url
     from urllib2 import urlparse
     parse_url = urlparse.urlsplit(nfsurl, scheme='nfs')
-    host, path = parse_url.netloc, parse_url.path
+    host, path = str(parse_url.netloc), str(parse_url.path)
 
     if not config.mgtSvr:
         raise Exception(
@@ -364,11 +364,17 @@ def is_snapshot_on_nfs(apiclient, dbconn, config, zoneid, snapshotid):
             user,
             passwd
         )
+
+        pathSeparator = "" #used to form host:dir format
+        if not host.endswith(':'):
+            pathSeparator= ":"
+
         cmds = [
             "mkdir -p %s /mnt/tmp",
-            "mount -t %s %s:%s /mnt/tmp" % (
+            "mount -t %s %s%s%s /mnt/tmp" % (
                 'nfs',
                 host,
+                pathSeparator,
                 path,
             ),
             "test -f %s && echo 'snapshot exists'" % (