code: public static InetAddress stoa(final String ip)
  	{
  		if (ip == null || ip.isEmpty())
  			throw new IllegalArgumentException("must pass a valid ip: null or empty strings are not valid IPs!");
  
  		try
  		{
  			return InetAddress.getByName(ip);
  		}
  		catch (UnknownHostException e)
  		{
  			throw new IllegalArgumentException("must pass a valid ip. Illegal input was: " + ip, e);
  		}
  	}
docs: Parses an IP address, returning it as an InetAddress<br />
  This method exists to prevent code which is handling valid IP addresses from having to catch UnknownHostException
  excessively (when there is often no choice but to totally fail out anyway)
  
  @param ip
  a valid IP address (IPv4 or IPv6)
  
  @return the resulting InetAddress for that ip; this is equivalent to calling <code>InetAddress.getByName</code> on the IP
  (but without having to catch UnknownHostException)
  
  @throws IllegalArgumentException
  if the IP address is invalid (eg. null, an empty string or otherwise not in the valid IP address format)