What is a Port?
A port is the way that computers communicate over the network.
When one computer sends information to another computer, they need to have the IP address of another computer, and then they also need to know what program is used to receive that information. That is where port number comes into play.
This means that every time the data is transmitted, it must know the IP address and port number which the program is taken care of.
Port numbers vary; they are between 0 and 65535.
Port Range
- 0 to 1023 are special port numbers. Only company like Apple QuickTime, MSN, SQL Services, Gopher Services, and other famous services have these port numbers.
- 1024 to 49151 are registered port numbers. It means these numbers can be registered to specific protocol by any software corporations.
- 49152 to 65535 are dynamic or private port numbers. They can be used by anybody.