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Port Number

Ports in networking are logical addresses that identify specific applications on a computer, allowing data to be sent and received correctly. They are categorized into Well Known Ports (0-1023), Registered Ports (1024-49151), and Dynamic Ports (49152-65535), each serving different purposes. Ports are crucial for service identification, efficient data routing, traffic management, and enabling multiple services to operate simultaneously on the same device.

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13 views3 pages

Port Number

Ports in networking are logical addresses that identify specific applications on a computer, allowing data to be sent and received correctly. They are categorized into Well Known Ports (0-1023), Registered Ports (1024-49151), and Dynamic Ports (49152-65535), each serving different purposes. Ports are crucial for service identification, efficient data routing, traffic management, and enabling multiple services to operate simultaneously on the same device.

Uploaded by

camosor399
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Saturday, February 22, 2025 1:13 PM

What is Ports in Networking?

Whenever any application in one computer sends data to another application of a different
computer then it sends using IP Address and MAC Address but how does our computer
know that this data is for a specific application and this data is sent by any specific
application? There comes the concept of Port.

For instance, imagine your MAC Address or IP Address as the PIN code of the nearest Post
Office and your house address as a Port. Whenever any parcel is sent to you it gets received
by the nearest post office and then it is identified by your address where to deliver that
parcel. Similarly in a computer data is first received using their IP or MAC address then it is
delivered to the application whose port number is with the data packets.

Port is a logical address of a 16-bit unsigned integer that is allotted to every application on
the computer that uses the internet to send or receive data.

Now every time any application sends any data, it is identified by the port that which the
application sent that data and the data is to be transferred to the receiver application
according to its port. We often call port as port number.

Types of Ports

Ports are further divided into three categories:

Well Known Port


Registered port
Dynamic Port

Well Known Port

It is from the range 0 to 1023


It is reserved for common and specifically used service
It is used by some widely adopted protocols and services like HTTP(port 80), FTP(port 21),
DNS(Port 53), SSH(port 22), etc.....

Registered Port

It is from range 1024 to 49151


These are used by applications or services that are not as common
But it is used by those applications or services which require its specific port
Organizations can ask IANA(Internet Assigned Number Authority) for any specific port
number within this range

Dynamic Port

It is from range 49152 to 65535


It is also known as Ephemeral or Private Port
It is used for those connections that are temporary or short-lived
It is not registered or assigned and can be used by any process

Importance of Ports
Ports have many significance. Some of them are-

Identification of service- Different application/services that work on the same device can be
differentiated by their port numbers. For example, HTTP(Port number 80) and SMTP(port
number 25) in the same computer uses different port number to ensure their data goes to
the correct service
Efficient Data Routing- When a network device receives data from different places it uses
port numbers to efficiently route those data packets to the respective application
Block traffic from specific applications/services- When we have to block incoming or
outgoing traffic from a specific application/service then we need to install a firewall and
specify the port number of that application/service. We block traffic from/to some specific
applications/services when we find any potential threats from those applications/services
Scalability of services- Many services can run simultaneously on the same device and can
be differentiated using their port number. This helps the device to scale and support many
services at the same time.

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