diff --git a/hooks/charmhelpers/contrib/network/ip.py b/hooks/charmhelpers/contrib/network/ip.py
index fff6d5c..67b4dcc 100644
--- a/hooks/charmhelpers/contrib/network/ip.py
+++ b/hooks/charmhelpers/contrib/network/ip.py
@@ -435,8 +435,12 @@ def get_hostname(address, fqdn=True):
 
         rev = dns.reversename.from_address(address)
         result = ns_query(rev)
+
         if not result:
-            return None
+            try:
+                result = socket.gethostbyaddr(address)[0]
+            except:
+                return None
     else:
         result = address
 
diff --git a/hooks/charmhelpers/core/hookenv.py b/hooks/charmhelpers/core/hookenv.py
index a35d006..ab53a78 100644
--- a/hooks/charmhelpers/core/hookenv.py
+++ b/hooks/charmhelpers/core/hookenv.py
@@ -767,21 +767,23 @@ def status_set(workload_state, message):
 
 
 def status_get():
-    """Retrieve the previously set juju workload state
+    """Retrieve the previously set juju workload state and message
+
+    If the status-get command is not found then assume this is juju < 1.23 and
+    return 'unknown', ""
 
-    If the status-set command is not found then assume this is juju < 1.23 and
-    return 'unknown'
     """
-    cmd = ['status-get']
+    cmd = ['status-get', "--format=json", "--include-data"]
     try:
-        raw_status = subprocess.check_output(cmd, universal_newlines=True)
-        status = raw_status.rstrip()
-        return status
+        raw_status = subprocess.check_output(cmd)
     except OSError as e:
         if e.errno == errno.ENOENT:
-            return 'unknown'
+            return ('unknown', "")
         else:
             raise
+    else:
+        status = json.loads(raw_status.decode("UTF-8"))
+        return (status["status"], status["message"])
 
 
 def translate_exc(from_exc, to_exc):