diff --git a/components/nexus-core/src/main/java/org/sonatype/nexus/configuration/application/DefaultNexusConfiguration.java b/components/nexus-core/src/main/java/org/sonatype/nexus/configuration/application/DefaultNexusConfiguration.java
index 9fee9966147..cbd06be1595 100644
--- a/components/nexus-core/src/main/java/org/sonatype/nexus/configuration/application/DefaultNexusConfiguration.java
+++ b/components/nexus-core/src/main/java/org/sonatype/nexus/configuration/application/DefaultNexusConfiguration.java
@@ -78,13 +78,14 @@
 import org.sonatype.sisu.goodies.common.ComponentSupport;
 import org.sonatype.sisu.goodies.eventbus.EventBus;
 
+import com.google.common.base.Throwables;
+
 import com.google.common.base.Function;
 import com.google.common.base.Strings;
 import com.google.common.collect.Collections2;
 import org.apache.shiro.SecurityUtils;
 import org.apache.shiro.authc.UsernamePasswordToken;
 import org.apache.shiro.subject.Subject;
-
 import static com.google.common.base.Preconditions.checkNotNull;
 
 /**
@@ -664,6 +665,7 @@ protected Repository instantiateRepository(final Configuration configuration, fi
       return instantiateRepository(configuration, klazz, repositoryModel.getProviderHint(), repositoryModel);
     }
     catch (Exception e) {
+      Throwables.propagateIfInstanceOf(e, ConfigurationException.class);
       throw new ConfigurationException("Cannot instantiate repository " + repositoryModel.getProviderRole() + ":"
           + repositoryModel.getProviderHint(), e);
     }
diff --git a/plugins/basic/nexus-ui-extjs3-plugin/src/main/resources/static/js/repoServer/RepoEditPanel.js b/plugins/basic/nexus-ui-extjs3-plugin/src/main/resources/static/js/repoServer/RepoEditPanel.js
index 98fb754ddc2..b0e8f4404ff 100644
--- a/plugins/basic/nexus-ui-extjs3-plugin/src/main/resources/static/js/repoServer/RepoEditPanel.js
+++ b/plugins/basic/nexus-ui-extjs3-plugin/src/main/resources/static/js/repoServer/RepoEditPanel.js
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@
  */
 
 define('repoServer/RepoEditPanel',['Sonatype/all', 'Sonatype/strings'], function(Sonatype, Strings){
-var REPO_REMOTE_STORAGE_REGEXP =  /(((^https?)|(^ftp)):\/\/((([\-\w]+\.)+\w{1,3}(\/[%\-\w]+(\.\w{1,})?)*(([\w\-\.\?\\\/+@&#;`~=%!]*)(\.\w{1,})?)*)|(localhost|LOCALHOST))\/?$)/i;
+var REPO_REMOTE_STORAGE_REGEXP = /^(?:http|https|ftp):\/\//i;
 
 Sonatype.repoServer.AbstractRepositoryEditor = function(config) {
   var config = config || {};
diff --git a/plugins/restlet1x/nexus-restlet1x-plugin/src/main/java/org/sonatype/nexus/rest/repositories/RepositoryPlexusResource.java b/plugins/restlet1x/nexus-restlet1x-plugin/src/main/java/org/sonatype/nexus/rest/repositories/RepositoryPlexusResource.java
index 308597b922b..2e164d5571a 100644
--- a/plugins/restlet1x/nexus-restlet1x-plugin/src/main/java/org/sonatype/nexus/rest/repositories/RepositoryPlexusResource.java
+++ b/plugins/restlet1x/nexus-restlet1x-plugin/src/main/java/org/sonatype/nexus/rest/repositories/RepositoryPlexusResource.java
@@ -26,9 +26,14 @@
 import javax.ws.rs.Produces;
 
 import org.sonatype.configuration.ConfigurationException;
+import org.sonatype.configuration.validation.InvalidConfigurationException;
+import org.sonatype.configuration.validation.ValidationMessage;
+import org.sonatype.configuration.validation.ValidationResponse;
 import org.sonatype.nexus.configuration.application.RepositoryDependentException;
+import org.sonatype.nexus.configuration.validator.ApplicationValidationResponse;
 import org.sonatype.nexus.proxy.AccessDeniedException;
 import org.sonatype.nexus.proxy.NoSuchRepositoryException;
+import org.sonatype.nexus.proxy.RemoteStorageException;
 import org.sonatype.nexus.proxy.StorageException;
 import org.sonatype.nexus.proxy.maven.ChecksumPolicy;
 import org.sonatype.nexus.proxy.maven.MavenProxyRepository;
@@ -184,7 +189,14 @@ public Object put(Context context, Request request, Response response, Object pa
             if (repository.getRepositoryKind().isFacetAvailable(ProxyRepository.class)) {
               ProxyRepository proxyRepo = repository.adaptToFacet(ProxyRepository.class);
 
-              proxyRepo.setRemoteUrl(model.getRemoteStorage().getRemoteStorageUrl());
+              try {
+                proxyRepo.setRemoteUrl(model.getRemoteStorage().getRemoteStorageUrl());
+              } catch (RemoteStorageException e) {
+                ValidationResponse vr = new ApplicationValidationResponse();
+                ValidationMessage error = new ValidationMessage("remoteStorageUrl", e.getMessage(), e.getMessage());
+                vr.addValidationError(error);
+                throw new InvalidConfigurationException(vr);
+              }
               String oldPasswordForRemoteStorage = null;
               if (proxyRepo.getRemoteAuthenticationSettings() != null
                   && UsernamePasswordRemoteAuthenticationSettings.class.isInstance(proxyRepo