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Virtual Server
In TCP and UDP networks a port is a 16-bit number used to identify which application program
(usually a server) incoming connections should be delivered to. Some ports have numbers that are
pre-assigned to them by the IANA (the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority), and these are referred
to as "well-known ports". Servers follow the well-known port assignments so clients can locate them.
If you wish to run a server on your network that can be accessed from the WAN (i.e. from other
machines on the Internet that are outside your local network), or any application that can accept
incoming connections (e.g. Peer-to-peer/P2P software such as instant messaging applications and
P2P file-sharing applications) and are using NAT (Network Address Translation), then you need to
configure your router to forward these incoming connection attempts using specific ports to the PC on
your network running the application. You also need to use port forwarding if you wish to host an online
game server.
The reason is that when using NAT, your publicly accessible IP address is used by and points to your
router, which needs to deliver all traffic to the private IP addresses used by your PCs. Please see the
WAN configuration section of this manual for information on NAT.
The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) is the central coordinator for the assignment of
unique parameter values for Internet protocols. Port numbers range from 0 to 65535, but only port
numbers 0 to 1023 are reserved for privileged services and are designated as "well-known ports". The
registered ports are numbered from 1024 through 49151. The remaining ports, referred to as dynamic
ports, or private ports, are numbered from 49152 through 65535.
Examples of well-known and registered port numbers are shown below, for further information, please
see IANA's website at:
http://www.iana.org/assignments/port-numbers
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