One of the many fundamental things to know as a network engineer is the function and port

number used by a number of common services as well as many that are typically implemented
during the course of a network engineer’s career. Below, we take a look at these protocols,
provides a basic description of their function, and lists the port numbers that they are commonly
associated with.

Table 1
Common TCP/IP Protocols and Ports

Protocol TCP/UDP Port Number Description

File Transfer TCP 20/21 FTP is one of the most commonly used file
Protocol (FTP) transfer protocols on the Internet and within
private networks. An FTP server can easily
(RFC 959) be set up with little networking knowledge
and provides the ability to easily relocate
files from one system to another. FTP
control is handled on TCP port 21 and its
data transfer can use TCP port 20 as well as
dynamic ports depending on the specific
configuration.
Secure Shell (SSH) TCP 22 SSH is the primary method used to manage
network devices securely at the command
(RFC 4250-4256) level. It is typically used as a secure
alternative to Telnet which does not support
secure connections.
Telnet TCP 23 Telnet is the primary method used to
manage network devices at the command
(RFC 854) level. Unlike SSH which provides a secure
connection, Telnet does not, it simply
provides a basic unsecured connection.
Many lower level network devices support
Telnet and not SSH as it required some
additional processing. Caution should be
used when connecting to a device using
Telnet over a public network as the login
credentials will be transmitted in the clear.
Simple Mail TCP 25 SMTP is used for two primary functions, it
Transfer Protocol is used to transfer mail (email) from source
(SMTP) to destination between mail servers and it is
used by end users to send email to a mail
(RFC 5321) system.
Domain Name TCP/UDP 53 The DNS is used widely on the public
System (DNS) internet and on private networks to translate
domain names into IP addresses, typically
(RFC 1034-1035) for network routing. DNS is hieratical with
main root servers that contain databases
that list the managers of high level Top
Level Domains (TLD) (such as .com).
These different TLD managers then contain
information for the second level domains
that are typically used by individual users
(for example, cisco.com). A DNS server
can also be set up within a private network
to private naming services between the
hosts of the internal network without being
part of the global system.
Dynamic Host UDP 67/68 DHCP is used on networks that do not use
Configuration static IP address assignment (almost all of
Protocol (DHCP) them). A DHCP server can be set up by an
administrator or engineer with a poll of
(RFC 2131) addresses that are available for assignment.
When a client device is turned on it can
request an IP address from the local DHCP
server, if there is an available address in the
pool it can be assigned to the device. This
assignment is not permanent and expires at
a configurable interval; if an address
renewal is not requested and the lease
expires the address will be put back into the
poll for assignment.
Trivial File Transfer UDP 69 TFTP offers a method of file transfer
Protocol (TFTP) without the session establishment
requirements that FTP uses. Because TFTP
(RFC 1350) uses UDP instead of TCP it has no way of
ensuring the file has been properly
transferred, the 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.
Hypertext Transfer TCP 80 HTTP is one of the most commonly used
Protocol (HTTP) protocols on most networks. HTTP is the
main protocol that is used by web browsers
(RFC 2616) and is thus used by any client that uses files
located on these servers.
Post Office Protocol TCP 110 POP version 3 is one of the two main
(POP) version 3 protocols used to retrieve mail from a
server. POP was designed to be very simple
(RFC 1939) by allowing a client to retrieve the complete
contents of a server mailbox and then
deleting the contents from the server.
Network Time UDP 123 One of the most overlooked protocols is
Protocol (NTP) NTP. NTP is used to synchronize the
devices on the Internet. Even most modern
(RFC 5905) operating systems support NTP as a basis
for keeping an accurate clock. The use of
NTP is vital on networking systems as it
provides an ability to easily interrelate
troubles from one device to another as the
clocks are precisely accurate.
NetBIOS TCP/UDP 137/138/139 NetBIOS itself is not a protocol but is
typically used in combination with IP with
(RFC 1001-1002) the NetBIOS over TCP/IP (NBT) protocol.
NBT has long been the central protocol
used to interconnect Microsoft Windows
machines.
Internet Message TCP 143 IMAP version3 is the second of the main
Access Protocol protocols used to retrieve mail from a
(IMAP) server. While POP has wider support,
IMAP supports a wider array of remote
(RFC 3501) mailbox operations which can be helpful to
users.
Simple Network TCP/UDP 161/162 SNMP is used by network administrators as
Management a method of network management. SNMP
Protocol (SNMP) has a number of different abilities including
the ability to monitor, configure and control
(RFC 1901-1908, network devices. SNMP traps can also be
3411-3418) configured on network devices to notify a
central server when specific actions are
occurring. Typically, these are configured
to be used when an alerting condition is
happening. In this situation, the device will
send a trap to network management stating
that an event has occurred and that the
device should be looked at further for a
source to the event.
Border Gateway TCP 179 BGP version 4 is widely used on the public
Protocol (BGP) internet and by Internet Service Providers
(ISP) to maintain very large routing tables
(RFC 4271) and traffic processing. BGP is one of the
few protocols that have been designed to
deal with the astronomically large routing
 tables that must exist on the public Internet.
Lightweight TCP/UDP 389 LDAP provides a mechanism of accessing
Directory Access and maintaining distributed directory
Protocol (LDAP) information. LDAP is based on the ITU-T
X.500 standard but has been simplified and
(RFC 4510) altered to work over TCP/IP networks.
Hypertext Transfer TCP 443 HTTPS is used in conjunction with HTTP
Protocol over to provide the same services but doing it
SSL/TLS (HTTPS) using a secure connection which is
provided by either SSL or TLS.
(RFC 2818)
Lightweight TCP/UDP 636 Just like HTTPS, LDAPS provides the
Directory Access same function as LDAP but over a secure
Protocol over connection which is provided by either SSL
TLS/SSL (LDAPS) or TLS.

(RFC 4513)
FTP over TLS/SSL TCP 989/990 Again, just like the previous two entries,
FTP over TLS/SSL uses the FTP protocol
(RFC 4217) which is then secured using either SSL or
TLS.

Summary

While it may seem obvious that there are large number of ports that are missing from this list, the
purpose here was to just cover the most commonly seen and used protocols. The complete list of
assigned ports and their assigned services can be seen at
http://www.iana.org/assignments/service-names-port-numbers/service-names-port-numbers.xml.
Hopefully the contents of this article will help in determining the correct port number to use
when implementing these services.