Thanks Prashanth for the reply.
I switched to a user disco and removed DISCO_MASTER_HOST from /etc/disco/settings.py. Still having problems though; I received the same error on disco debug and disco debug, disco debug localhost, and disco debug `hostname`, count_words.py hangs and doesn't show up on the webpage (which does work).
disco 13203 0.0 0.2 18596 9452 pts/7 S+ 12:13 0:00 python examples/util/count_words.py
Not sure if this matters, but I had to change the group permissions on /usr/local/var/disco to disco to allow writing by user disco.
Lastly, there is nothing in error.log or crash.log and below is the current output from console.log
2012-05-17 12:19:03.868 [debug] <0.48.0> Lager installed handler {lager_file_backend,"/usr/local/var/disco/log/console.log"} into lager_event
2012-05-17 12:19:03.870 [debug] <0.50.0> Lager installed handler error_logger_lager_h into error_logger
2012-05-17 12:19:03.870 [info] <0.6.0> Application lager started on node disco_8989_master@23
2012-05-17 12:19:03.871 [info] <0.51.0>@disco_main:init:45 DISCO BOOTS
2012-05-17 12:19:03.873 [info] <0.51.0>@disco_proxy:start:46 Disco proxy disabled
2012-05-17 12:19:03.875 [info] <0.51.0>@ddfs_master:start_link:56 DDFS master starts
2012-05-17 12:19:03.877 [info] <0.51.0>@event_server:start_link:37 Event server starts
2012-05-17 12:19:03.877 [debug] <0.51.0> Supervisor disco_main started ddfs_master:start_link() at pid <0.52.0>
2012-05-17 12:19:03.878 [debug] <0.51.0> Supervisor disco_main started event_server:start_link() at pid <0.58.0>
2012-05-17 12:19:03.879 [info] <0.51.0>@disco_config:start_link:24 Disco config starts
2012-05-17 12:19:03.880 [debug] <0.51.0> Supervisor disco_main started disco_config:start_link() at pid <0.59.0>
2012-05-17 12:19:03.881 [info] <0.51.0>@disco_server:start_link:48 DISCO SERVER STARTS
2012-05-17 12:19:03.882 [info] <0.60.0>@fair_scheduler:start_link:10 Fair scheduler starts
2012-05-17 12:19:03.882 [info] <0.61.0>@fair_scheduler:init:24 Scheduler uses fair policy
2012-05-17 12:19:03.883 [info] <0.61.0>@fair_scheduler_fair_policy:start_link:18 Fair scheduler: Fair policy
2012-05-17 12:19:03.885 [info] <0.60.0>@disco_server:do_update_config_table:327 Config table updated
2012-05-17 12:19:03.885 [debug] <0.51.0> Supervisor disco_main started disco_server:start_link() at pid <0.60.0>
2012-05-17 12:19:03.886 [info] <0.51.0>@web_server:start:14 web_server starts
2012-05-17 12:19:03.889 [debug] <0.68.0> Supervisor inet_gethost_native_sup started undefined at pid <0.69.0>
2012-05-17 12:19:03.889 [debug] <0.31.0> Supervisor kernel_safe_sup started inet_gethost_native:start_link() at pid <0.68.0>
2012-05-17 12:19:03.890 [info] <0.65.0>@node_mon:slave_start:82 Starting node at "localhost"
2012-05-17 12:19:03.895 [info] <0.51.0>@web_server:start:17 mochiweb starts
2012-05-17 12:19:03.896 [debug] <0.51.0> Supervisor disco_main started web_server:start(8989) at pid <0.70.0>
2012-05-17 12:19:03.896 [info] <0.6.0> Application disco started on node disco_8989_master@23
2012-05-17 12:19:35.897 [info] <0.65.0>@node_mon:spawn_node:35 Connection timed out to "localhost"
2012-05-17 12:19:50.899 [warning] <0.60.0>@disco_server:nodemon_exit:239 Restarting monitor for "localhost"
2012-05-17 12:19:50.901 [info] <0.96.0>@node_mon:slave_start:82 Starting node at "localhost"
2012-05-17 12:20:22.907 [info] <0.96.0>@node_mon:spawn_node:35 Connection timed out to "localhost"
2012-05-17 12:20:32.387 [info] <0.60.0>@disco_server:do_update_config_table:327 Config table updated
2012-05-17 12:20:36.129 [info] <0.60.0>@disco_server:do_update_config_table:327 Config table updated
2012-05-17 12:20:37.909 [warning] <0.60.0>@disco_server:nodemon_exit:239 Restarting monitor for "localhost"
2012-05-17 12:20:37.910 [info] <0.138.0>@node_mon:slave_start:82 Starting node at "localhost"
2012-05-17 12:20:38.198 [info] <0.60.0>@disco_server:do_update_config_table:327 Config table updated
2012-05-17 12:21:09.916 [info] <0.138.0>@node_mon:spawn_node:35 Connection timed out to "localhost"
2012-05-17 12:21:24.917 [warning] <0.60.0>@disco_server:nodemon_exit:239 Restarting monitor for "localhost"
2012-05-17 12:21:24.918 [info] <0.160.0>@node_mon:slave_start:82 Starting node at "localhost"