Virtual server – LevelOne FBR-1461 User Manual
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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
Authorit
y), 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: