Common Network Ports

For those responsible for configuring and managing web hosting, it’s useful to know the numbers for common services.

What are network ports?

Network ports are provided at the Transport Layer by TCP and UDP protocols. These port numbers help to control internet traffic. Port numbers are used to determine what protocol incoming traffic should be directed to. Ports allow a single host with a single IP address to run network services. Each port number identifies a distinct service, and each host can have 65535 ports per IP address. Registered port numbers are currently assigned by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) and were assigned by Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) before March 21, 2001.

There are three categories for ports:

• From 0 to 1023 – well-known ports assigned to common protocols and services
• From 1024 to 49151 – registered ports assigned by ICANN to a specific service
• From 49152 to 65 535 – dynamic (private, high) ports range from 49,152 to 65,535. Can be used by any service on an ad hoc basis. Ports are assigned when a session is established and released when the session ends.

Commonly used TCP ports

Web Related Ports

Email Related Ports

cPanel Related Ports