Network

Protocols and
Port Numbers
C O M P U T E R N E TO W R K S L A B 0 5
Network Protocols are the
languages and rules used during
communication in a computer
network. There are two major
transport protocols namely: TCP
and UDP
- PROTOCOLS
Transmission Control Protocol
TCP which stands for “Transmission Control Protocol”, is a suite of communication protocols used to
interconnect network devices on a local network or a public network like the internet. TCP is known as
“connection-oriented” protocols as it ensures each data packet is delivered as requested. Therefore, TCP is
used for transferring most types of data such as web pages and files over the Internet.
User Datagram Protocol
UDP which stands for “User Datagram Protocol” is part of the TCP/IP suite of protocols used for data
transferring. UDP is a known as a “connectionless-oriented” protocol, meaning it doesn’t acknowledge that
the packets being sent have been received. For this reason, the UDP protocol is typically used for streaming
media. While you might see skips in video or hear some fuzz in audio clips, UDP transmission prevents the
playback from stopping completely.
TCP Vs UDP
Furthermore, TCP also includes built-in error checking means TCP has more overhead and is therefore
slower than UDP, it ensures accurate delivery of data between systems. Therefore TCP is used for
transferring most types of data such as web pages and files over the local network or Internet. UDP is ideal
for media streaming which does not require all packets to be delivered.
Port Numbers
Port: It is a logical connection that is used by programs and services to exchange information.

 Port always associated with an IP address.

 Port number determines which service or program on that server it wants to use.

They are the unique identifiers given to all protocol numbers so they can be accessed easily.
Ports are represented by 16-bit numbers. There are 2^16 port numbers i.e 65536.
They are divided into three categories
1. Well-Known Port Numbers
0 to 1023 are well-known port numbers are as they are used by well-known protocol services.
These are allocated to server services by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA).
2. Registered Port Numbers
1024 to 49151 are registered port numbers i.e it can be
registered to specific protocols by software corporations
3. Dynamic Port Numbers
49152 to 65535 are dynamic port numbers and they can be used
by anyone
These ports can be opened and used by software applications
and operating system services to send and receive data over
networks (LAN or WAN) that employ certain protocols (eg
TCP, UDP).
For example, we use HTTP-web-based plain-text surfing and for HTTPS-web-based encrypted websites
in our daily work.
 Following table shows the protocol with port number and description:

PROTOCOLS (SERVICE PORTS NUMBERS TRANSPORT DESCRIPTION

NAMES) PROTOCOLS
FTP is one of the most
commonly used file transfer
protocols on the Internet and
within private networks. An
FTP server can easily be set
up with little networking
knowledge and provides the
ability to easily relocate files
from one system to another.
File Transfer Protocol FTP control is handled on
20 and 21 TCP TCP port 21 and its data
(FTP)
transfer can use TCP port 20
as well as dynamic ports
depending on the specific
configuration.
Secure Shell (SSH) It is a cryptographic network
22 TCP and UDP protocol used to secure data
communication.
Telnet is the primary method
used to manage network
devices at the command level.
Unlike SSH which provides a
secure connection, Telnet does
not, it simply provides a basic
unsecured connection. Many
Telnet 23 TCP
lower level network devices
support Telnet and not SSH as
it required some additional
processing.

t is a communication protocol
which is used to transmit email
Simple Mail Transfer messages over the internet to
25 TCP
Protocol (SMTP) the destination server.
 The DNS is used widely on
the public internet and on
private networks to translate
Domian Name System (DNS) 53 TCP and UDP
domain names into IP
addresses, typically for
network routing.

TFTP offers a method of file

transfer without the session
establishment requirements
that FTP uses. Because TFTP
uses UDP instead of TCP it has
no way of ensuring the file has
.Trivial File Transfer been properly transferred, the
69 UDP
Protocol (TFTP) end device must be able to
check the file to ensure proper
transfer. TFTP is typically used
by devices to upgrade software
and firmware; this includes
Cisco and other network
vendors’ equipment.
Hyper Text Transfer Protocol 80 TCP It is a kind of protocol used to
(HTTP) define how data is transmitted
and formatted and also used
by www as a channel for
communication.

Dynamic Host Configuration It is a kind of service used in the

67 and 68 UDP
Protocol (DHCP) client and server model.
It is a protocol used by e-mail
Post Office Protocol 3 (POP3) 110 TCP client to retrieve e-mail from the
servers.

It renders authentication and

Hyper Text Transfer Protocol encryption that provides secure
443 TCP
Secure. (HTTPS) communication with the use of
secure socket layer.

It uses the SSH protocol to

Secure File Transfer Protocol
22 TCP and UDP access and transfer file over the
(SFTP)
network.
Who assigns a unique port number for different services/ applications ?

A web browser when connected to a web server, a port in range (49152- 65535) is self-allocated by web
browser, which is called an ephemeral port. Try “netstat” on your command to get details.
The netstat command is used to show network status.
Traditionally, it is used more for problem determination than for performance measurement. However,
the netstat command can be used to determine the amount of traffic on the network to ascertain whether
performance problems are due to network congestion.
The netstat command displays information regarding traffic on the configured network interfaces.

Note: Client port numbers are dynamically assigned, and can be reused once session is closed.