Lesson 7.

UDP and TCP ports: A list of the most important ports

I. Read and translate the text. Use a dictionary to help you

TCP and UDP are used to connect two devices over the Internet or other

networks. However, to give data packages an entrance to the PC or server at the other
end of the connection, the “doors” have to be open. These openings into the
system are called ports. For both protocols, there are some known and important ports
which you need to know.

What do ports do?

When communicating via the Internet, the two protocols TCP and UDP
establish the connection, compile data packages again after transfer, and then hand
them over to the programs addressed on the recipient’s device. For this handover to
work, the operating system must create entrances and open them for the
transfer. Every entrance has a specific code number. After the transfer, the
receiving system knows where the data has to be delivered based on the port number.
The data package always includes two port numbers: the sender’s and the recipient’s.

Ports have consecutive numbers – from 0 to 65536. Some of these code

numbers are standardized, which means they are assigned to specific applications.
These standard ports are also called well-known ports, as the code numbers are known
to all and permanently assigned. There are also registered ports, which organizations
or software producers have registered for their applications. The Internet Assigned
Numbers Authority (IANA) is responsible for registration. There is also a wide range
of port numbers that are assigned dynamically. For example, browsers use these ports
when visiting a website. The number is then free again afterwards.
 List of the most important ports

Among the over 65,000 ports, there are few code numbers that are essential for
Internet communication. We want to show you the most important well-known ports
and registered ports. Some of these ports are only authorized for one of the two
protocols (TCP or UDP). There are also ports that were not officially registered for
the service in question, but have established themselves unofficially. Some ports have
double assignments.

Well-known ports
Port TCP UDP Name Description

1 ✔ ✔ tcpmux TCP port multiplexer

5 ✔ ✔ rje Remote job entry
7 ✔ ✔ echo Echo service
9 ✔ ✔ discard Zero service for test purposes
11 ✔ ✔ systat System information
13 ✔ ✔ daytime Time and date
17 ✔ ✔ qotd Sends quote of the day
18 ✔ ✔ msp Sends text messages
19 ✔ ✔ chargen Sends an infinite character string
20 ✔   ftp-data FTP data transfer
21 ✔ ✔ ftp FTP connection
22 ✔ ✔ ssh Secure Shell Service
23 ✔   telnet Telnet service
25 ✔   smtp Simple Mail Transfer Protocol
37 ✔ ✔ time Machine-readable time protocol
39 ✔ ✔ rlp Resource location protocol

Table 1. A list of some well-known ports

Registered ports

Port TCP UDP Name Description

1080 ✔   socks SOCKS proxy
1433 ✔   ms-sql-s Microsoft SQL server
1434 ✔ ✔ ms-sql-m Microsoft SQL monitor
1494 ✔   ica Citrix ICA client
1512 ✔ ✔ wins Windows internet name service
1524 ✔ ✔ ingreslock Ingres DBMS
1701   ✔ l2tp Layer 2 tunneling protocol/Layer 2 forwarding
1719   ✔ h323gatestat H.323
1720 ✔   h323hostcall H.323
1812 ✔ ✔ radius RADIUS authentication
1813 ✔ ✔ radius-acct RADIUS access
1985   ✔ hsrp Cisco HSRP
2008 ✔     Teamspeak 3 accounting (unofficial)
2010   ✔   Teamspeak 3 web list (unofficial)
2049 ✔ ✔ nfs Network file system
2102 ✔ ✔ zephyr-srv Zephyr server
2103 ✔ ✔ zephyr-clt Zephyr client
2104 ✔ ✔ zephyr-hm Zephyr host manager
2401 ✔   cvspserver Concurrent versions system
2809 ✔ ✔ corbaloc Common object request broker architecture

Table 2. A list of some registered ports

 Note
Ports numbered 49152 and higher are dynamic ports. They are not assigned by
IANA. Any application can use these ports locally or globally in a dynamic way. As a
result, it could easily be the case that one of these ports is already occupied.

User Datagram Protocol

Well-Known Ports

Port numbers can run from 0 to 65353. Port numbers from 0 to 1023 are
reserved for common TCP/IP applications and are called well-known ports. The use of
well-known ports allows client applications to easily locate the corresponding server
application processes on other hosts. For example, a client process wanting to contact
a DNS process running on a server must send the datagram to some destination port.
The well-known port number for DNS is 53, and that’s where the server process
should be listening for client requests. These ports are sometimes called “privileged”
ports, although a number of applications that formerly ran in “privileged” mode, such
as HTTP servers, do not run this way anymore except when binding to the port. It
should be noted that it is getting harder and harder to register new applications in the
space below 1023 (these often use registered ports in the range 1024 to 49151).
Ports used on servers are persistent in the sense that they last for a long time, or
at least as long as the application is running. Ports used on clients
are ephemeral (“lasting a short time,” although the term technically means “lasting a
day”) in the sense that they “come and go” as the user runs client applications.
Technically, UDP port numbers are independent from TCP port numbers. In
practice, most of the applications indexed by port numbers are the same in UDP or
TCP (although a few applications can use either protocol), excepting a handful that
are maintained for historical reasons. This does not imply that applications can use
TCP or UDP as they choose. It just means that it’s easier to maintain one list rather
than two. But no matter what port numbers are used, UDP port 1000 is a different
application than TCP port 1000, even though both applications might perform the
same function.
Some of the more common well-known port numbers are shown in Table 3. In
the table, the UDP and TCP port numbers are identical.

Port
Number Service Meaning

7 Echo Used to echo data back to the sender

9 Discard Used to discard data at receiver

Reports time information in user-friendly

13 Daytime
format

Returns a “quote of the day” (rarely used

17 Quote
today)

19 Chargen Character generator

53 DNS Domain Name Service

DHCP Server port used to send configuration

67
server information

DHCP Client port used to receive configuration

68
client information

69 TFTP Trivial file transfer

Used to receive network management

161 SNMP
queries

162 SNMP traps Used to receive network problem reports

1011–1023 Reserved Reserved for future use

Table 3. Some well-known ports used by UDP and TCP Services and Functions
 Port numbers above 1023 can be either registered or dynamic (also
called private or non-reserved). Registered ports are in the range 1024 to 49151.
Dynamic ports are in the range 49152 to 65535. As mentioned, most new port
assignments are in the range from 1024 to 49151.
Registered port numbers are non–well-known ports that are used by vendors for
their own server applications. After all, not every possible application capability will
be reflected in a well-known port, and software vendors should be free to innovate. Of
course, if another vendor chooses the same port number for a server process, and they
are run on the same system, there would be no way to distinguish between these two
seemingly identical applications.

Well-known ports—Ports in the range 0 to 1023 are assigned and controlled.

Registered ports—Ports in the range 1024 to 49151 are not assigned or

controlled, but can be registered to prevent duplication.

Dynamic ports—Ports in the range 49152 to 65535 are not assigned, controlled,
or registered. They are used for temporary or private ports. They are also known as
private or non-reserved ports. Clients should choose ephemeral port numbers from
this range, but many systems do not.

Vendors can register their application’s ports with ICANN. Other software
vendors are supposed to respect these registered values and register their own server
application port numbers from the pool of unused values. Some registered UDP and
TCP protocol numbers are shown in Table 4.
 Port Number Service Brief Description of Use

1024 Reserved Reserved for future use

1025 Blackjack Network version of blackjack

1026 CAP Calendar access protocol

1027 Exosee ExoSee

1029 Solidmux Solid Mux Server

1102 Adobe 1 Adobe Server 1

1103 Adobe 2 Adobe Server 2

44553 Rbr-debug REALBasic Remote Debug

46999 Mediabox MediaBox Server

47557 Dbbrowse Databeam Corporation

48620–49150 Unassigned These ports have not been registered

Reserved for future use

49151 Reserved

Table 4. Selected registered UDP and TCP ports with service and brief
description of meaning

The private, or dynamic, port numbers are used by clients and not servers.

Datagrams sent from a client to a server are typically only sent to well-known or
registered ports (although there are exceptions). Server applications are usually long
lived, while client processes come and go as users run them. Client applications
therefore are free to choose almost any port number not used for some other purpose
(hence the term “dynamic”), and many use different source port numbers every time
they are run. The server has no trouble replying to the proper client because the server
can just reverse the source and destination port numbers to send a reply to the correct
client (assuming the IP address of the client is correct).
All TCP/IP implementations must know the range of well-known, registered,
and private ports when choosing a port number to use. Unix systems hold this
information is the /etc/services file. Windows users can find this C:\%SystemRoot%\
system32\drivers\etc\SERVICES file, where %SystemRoot% will be automatically
referred to a folder such as WinNT or WINDOWS. UDP or TCP, but some are unique
to one or the other.
For the latest global list of well-known, registered, and private port numbers,
see www.iana.org/assignments/port-numbers. The port numbers are the same for IPv4
and IPv6.
(Walter Goralski, in The Illustrated Network (Second Edition), 2017)

VOCABULARY

TECHNICAL NON-TECHNICAL
UDP (User Datagram Protocol) ̶ hand them over ̶ передати їх
протокол користувальницьких
датаграм
compile data packages ̶ компілювати a wide range of ̶ широкий
пакети даних асортимент
recipient’s device ̶ пристрій afterwards ̶ згодом
одержувача
consecutive numbers ̶ послідовні for the service in question ̶ за
числа відповідну послугу
are assigned to ̶ призначаються privileged ̶ привілейований
Internet Assigned Numbers Authority binding to the port ̶ прив'язка до
(IANA) ̶ Орган з присвоєння порту
номерів Інтернету (IANA)
to have double assignments ̶ мати persistent  ̶ стійкий
подвійні присвоєння
multiplexer ̶ мультиплексор ephemeral ̶ ефемерний
SOCKS (Socket Secure) proxy ̶ to innovate ̶ впроваджувати
проксі SOCKS (мережевий протоко̶л інновації
сеансового рівня моделі OSI)

datagram ̶ дейтаграма to distinguish ̶ розрізняти

to discard data ̶ відкинути дані
quote of the day ̶ запит дня

Domain Name Service ̶ Служба

доменних імен
ICANN (Internet Corporation for
Assigned Names and Numbers)
Інтернет-корпорація з присвоєння
імен і номерів

Exercise 1. Answer the following questions

1. What is used to connect two devices over the Internet or other networks?

2. What is a port? 3. What do ports do? 4. What does every entrance have? 5. When
does the receiving system know where the data has to be delivered based on the port
number? 6. What does the data package always include? 7. What numbers do ports
have? 8. What is a standardized code number? 9. What type of ports can you name?
10. What organization is responsible for registration? 11. What is a dynamically
assigned port number? 12. How many code numbers are essential for communication?
13. What ports are also there? 14. What do some ports have? 15. Are dynamic ports
numbers assigned by IANA? 16. Port numbers can run from 0 to 65353, can’t they?
17. What ports are reserved for common TCP applications? 18. What does the use of
well-known ports allow client applications to do? 19. What are privileged ports?
20. What are the ports used on servers persistent? 21. What are ephemeral ports?
22. Are UDP port numbers independent from TCP port numbers? Explain. 23. What
can port numbers above 1023 be? 24. Who uses registered port numbers? 25. Where
can vendors register their application ports? 26. What are other software vendors
supposed to do? 27. Who uses private port numbers? 28. Where are datagrams sent?
29. What can be said of server applications and client processes? 30. Where do
operating systems hold information about well-known ports?

Exercise 2. Match the beginning of the sentence with its ending

1. A port is a virtual point a) across all network-connected
devices, with each port assigned a
number.
2. Ports are software-based and b) certain protocols — for example,
managed all Hypertext Transfer Protocol
(HTTP) messages go to port 80.
3. Each port is associated with c) port numbers allow targeting of
specific services or applications within
those devices.
4. Ports allow computers to easily d) what to do with the data they receive.
differentiate between
5. Ports are standardized e) by a computer's operating system.
6. Most ports are reserved for f) for indicating port numbers. 
7. While IP addresses enable messages g) a specific process or service.
to go to and from specific devices,
8. The use of ports helps computers h) where network connections start and
understand end. 
9. Ports are a transport layer (layer 4) i) different kinds of traffic: emails go to
concept. Only a transport protocol such a different port than webpages, for
as the Transmission Control Protocol instance, even though both reach a
(TCP) or User Datagram Protocol (UDP) computer over the same Internet
connection.
10. TCP and UDP headers have a j) can indicate which port a packet
section should go to.

Exercise 3. Fill in the gaps with the correct word from the box
SMTP, sync, tunneling, possible, remotely, setting up, human-readable, 
transferring, conceptual, maintains, establishing, common, encrypted,
associated, encryption

The OSI model is a ……. model of how the Internet works. It divides different
Internet services and processes into 7 layers.

There are 65,535 possible port numbers, although not all are …..in use. Some
of the most commonly used ports, along with their …… networking protocol, are:

Ports 20 and 21: File Transfer Protocol (FTP). FTP is for ……. files between a
client and a server.

Port 22: Secure Shell (SSH). SSH is one of many ……. protocols that create

secure network connections.

Port 25: Historically, Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP). ……..is used

for email.

Port 53: Domain Name System (DNS). DNS is an essential process for the
modern Internet; it matches ….. domain names to machine-readable IP addresses,
enabling users to load websites and applications without memorizing a long list of IP
addresses.

Port 80: Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). HTTP is the protocol that makes
the World Wide Web …….

Port 123: Network Time Protocol (NTP). NTP allows computer clocks to …..
with each other, a process that is essential for encryption.
 Port 179: Border Gateway Protocol (BGP). BGP is essential for …. efficient
routes between the large networks that make up the Internet (these large networks are
called autonomous systems). Autonomous systems use BGP to broadcast which IP
addresses they control.

Port 443: HTTP Secure (HTTPS). HTTPS is the secure and …… version of

HTTP. All HTTPS web traffic goes to port 443. Network services that use HTTPS for
encryption, such as DNS over HTTPS, also connect at this port.

Port 500: Internet Security Association and Key Management Protocol

(ISAKMP), which is part of the process of …… secure IPsec connections.

Port 587: Modern, secure SMTP that uses ……..

Port 3389: Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP). RDP enables users to …..

connect to their desktop computers from another device.

The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) …… the full list of port

numbers and protocols assigned to them.

SPEAKING
Why do firewalls sometimes block specific ports?
What can hardware port be divided into?
Speak about types of ports.
Give some tips for using computer ports.
Factoid
Serial port - known in the trade as RS-232C, the serial connection is the oldest
"legacy" port on your computer (the industry's term for ancient technology).
A serial port is also called a communication port and they are used for connection
of external devices like a modem, mouse, or keyboard (basically in older PCs).