diff --git a/osc/conf.py b/osc/conf.py
index 9e2dd430..7309e937 100644
--- a/osc/conf.py
+++ b/osc/conf.py
@@ -315,6 +315,11 @@ def parse_apisrv_url(scheme, apisrv):
 def urljoin(scheme, apisrv):
     return '://'.join([scheme, apisrv])
 
+def is_known_apiurl(url):
+    """returns true if url is a known apiurl"""
+    apiurl = urljoin(*parse_apisrv_url(None, url))
+    return config['api_host_options'].has_key(apiurl)
+
 def get_apiurl_api_host_options(apiurl):
     """
     Returns all apihost specific options for the given apiurl, None if
@@ -325,11 +330,10 @@ def get_apiurl_api_host_options(apiurl):
     # had been mingled into before.  But this works fine for now.
 
     apiurl = urljoin(*parse_apisrv_url(None, apiurl))
-    try:
+    if is_known_apiurl(apiurl):
         return config['api_host_options'][apiurl]
-    except KeyError:
-        raise oscerr.ConfigMissingApiurl('missing credentials for apiurl: \'%s\'' % apiurl,
-                                         '', apiurl)
+    raise oscerr.ConfigMissingApiurl('missing credentials for apiurl: \'%s\'' % apiurl,
+                                     '', apiurl)
 
 def get_apiurl_usr(apiurl):
     """
diff --git a/osc/core.py b/osc/core.py
index 5dac0093..83e6afff 100644
--- a/osc/core.py
+++ b/osc/core.py
@@ -2375,14 +2375,12 @@ def http_request(method, url, headers={}, data=None, file=None, timeout=100):
 
     req = urllib2.Request(url)
     api_host_options = {}
-    try:
+    if conf.is_known_apiurl(url):
+        # ok no external request
         urllib2.install_opener(conf._build_opener(url))
         api_host_options = conf.get_apiurl_api_host_options(url)
         for header, value in api_host_options['http_headers']:
             req.add_header(header, value)
-    except:
-        # "external" request (url is no apiurl)
-        pass
 
     req.get_method = lambda: method