What is my Port Number?

What is Port Number?

Port number: input is a computer term used to mean a socket or port. It is divided into physical port and virtual port (non-physical).

A physical port refers to a hardware port on the computer components used in the physical connection. Data can be sent to any machine connected through such ports and the operation of this machine can be controlled. Common physical ports on a computer include AT Port, Firewire Port (IEEE-1394), Serial port, USB port, LAN or Network Port (RJ-45) etc. examples are given.

Virtual ports are logical ports that are routed over the network and the internet or through software when using a computer. The port used in the internet means the term we describe as virtual port. Numbers are given to address this abstract port. While some servers use fixed port numbers, some servers serve from different port addresses. Ports up to 1024 are private ports, and port numbers over 1024 are public. These ports are examples of telnet-23, http-80, ftp-21 ports.

IP and Port Relationship

IP addresses are given to the computers by the server programs to provide communication and data exchange in the network environment. The port numbers are used for the server program to be served on the computer accessed using these addresses. For this reason, when a server on the network is wanted to connect to the program, the port number is added next to the IP number to be connected.

Connections are observed by typing "netstat -an" command at the command prompt (Start - Run - cmd) to see which port of any IP address on our computer is connecting.