Port Checker Tool

About Ports

A port is an application-specific or process-specific software construct serving as a communications endpoint in a computer's host operating system. The purpose of ports is to uniquely identify different applications or processes running on a single computer and thereby enable them to share a single physical connection to a packet-switched network like the Internet. In the context of the Internet Protocol, a port is associated with an IP address of the host, as well as the type of protocol used for communication.

The protocols that primarily use ports are the Transport Layer protocols, such as the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and the User Datagram Protocol (UDP) of the Internet Protocol Suite. A port is identified for each address and protocol by a 16-bit number, commonly known as the port number. The port number, added to a computer's IP address, completes the destination address for a communications session. That is, data packets are routed across the network to a specific destination IP address, and then, upon reaching the destination computer, are further routed to the specific process bound to the destination port number.

Basic Ports