diff --git a/include/ircd/net/hostport.h b/include/ircd/net/hostport.h
index 7d898eae1..9bf4b31ad 100644
--- a/include/ircd/net/hostport.h
+++ b/include/ircd/net/hostport.h
@@ -23,6 +23,8 @@ namespace ircd::net
 	string_view &host(hostport &);
 
 	string_view string(const mutable_buffer &out, const hostport &);
+	string_view canonize(const mutable_buffer &out, const hostport &, const uint16_t &port = 8448);
+	std::string canonize(const hostport &, const uint16_t &port = 8448);
 }
 
 namespace ircd
@@ -94,6 +96,7 @@ inline
 ircd::net::hostport::hostport(const string_view &amalgam)
 :host
 {
+	//TODO: grammar
 	rsplit(amalgam, ':').first
 }
 {
diff --git a/include/ircd/net/remote.h b/include/ircd/net/remote.h
deleted file mode 100644
index a25e754fa..000000000
--- a/include/ircd/net/remote.h
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,75 +0,0 @@
-// Matrix Construct
-//
-// Copyright (C) Matrix Construct Developers, Authors & Contributors
-// Copyright (C) 2016-2018 Jason Volk <jason@zemos.net>
-//
-// Permission to use, copy, modify, and/or distribute this software for any
-// purpose with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above
-// copyright notice and this permission notice is present in all copies. The
-// full license for this software is available in the LICENSE file.
-
-#pragma once
-#define HAVE_IRCD_NET_REMOTE_H
-
-namespace ircd::net
-{
-	struct remote;
-
-	string_view string(const mutable_buffer &out, const remote &);
-}
-
-namespace ircd
-{
-	using net::remote;
-}
-
-/// This structure combines features of hostport and ipport to hold a remote's
-/// resolved IP in bytes, a port number, and an optional hostname string which
-/// may have been used to resolve the IP, or may have been resolved from the
-/// IP, or may be used for certificate Common Name verification, or may just
-/// be empty, but anyway still has some use in most cases being carried along.
-///
-struct ircd::net::remote
-:ircd::net::ipport
-{
-	std::string hostname;
-
-	explicit operator bool() const;
-	operator hostport() const;
-	bool operator!() const             { return !static_cast<bool>(*this);     }
-	bool resolved() const;
-
-	explicit remote(const ipport &ipp)
-	:ipport{ipp}
-	{}
-
-	explicit remote(const hostport &hostport)
-	:ipport{uint32_t(0), net::port(hostport)}
-	,hostname{net::host(hostport)}
-	{}
-
-	remote() = default;
-
-	friend std::ostream &operator<<(std::ostream &, const remote &);
-};
-
-inline bool
-ircd::net::remote::resolved()
-const
-{
-	return bool(static_cast<const ipport &>(*this));
-}
-
-inline ircd::net::remote::operator
-hostport()
-const
-{
-	return { hostname, port(*this) };
-}
-
-inline ircd::net::remote::operator
-bool()
-const
-{
-	return resolved() || !hostname.empty();
-}
diff --git a/ircd/net.cc b/ircd/net.cc
index 6a8bea255..2805b9e84 100644
--- a/ircd/net.cc
+++ b/ircd/net.cc
@@ -3306,6 +3306,39 @@ ircd::net::operator<<(std::ostream &s, const hostport &t)
 	return s;
 }
 
+std::string
+ircd::net::canonize(const hostport &hp,
+                    const uint16_t &port)
+{
+	const size_t len
+	{
+		size(host(hp) + 6) // optimistic ':' + portnum
+	};
+
+	return ircd::string(len, [&hp, &port]
+	(const mutable_buffer &buf)
+	{
+		return canonize(buf, hp, port);
+	});
+}
+
+ircd::string_view
+ircd::net::canonize(const mutable_buffer &buf,
+                    const hostport &hp,
+                    const uint16_t &port)
+{
+	if(net::port(hp) == 0 || net::port(hp) == port)
+		return fmt::sprintf
+		{
+			buf, "%s", host(hp)
+		};
+
+	return fmt::sprintf
+	{
+		buf, "%s:%u", host(hp), net::port(hp)
+	};
+}
+
 ircd::string_view
 ircd::net::string(const mutable_buffer &buf,
                   const hostport &hp)