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Software Engineering vocabulary · APIs, Networking and Security

Port

Meaning in software engineering, with examples

/pɔːt/nounCore term

In software engineering, port means: Either a physical socket on a device where a network cable is plugged in, or a number from 0 to 65535 that identifies a particular service on a host, such as 443 for HTTPS.

In Turkish: port, bağlantı noktası

How it is used

Context tells you which meaning is used. On a switch, ports are up or down, enabled or shut down. In firewall and application work, ports are opened, closed, blocked or listened on: 'Is port 22 open?'

Example sentences

  1. Port 12 on the second-floor switch is down; can someone check the cable?

  2. The web server only listens on port 443, so plain HTTP requests fail.

Common collocations

  • open a port
  • port number
  • switch port
  • block a port
  • listen on a port
  • switchA device with many ports that connects computers, phones, printers and other equipment inside the same local network and forwards each frame only to the port where its destination is.
  • firewallA hardware device or piece of software that checks network traffic and allows or blocks it according to a set of security rules.
  • TCPShort for Transmission Control Protocol: a protocol that sets up a connection and makes sure data arrives complete and in the right order, resending anything that is lost.
  • UDPShort for User Datagram Protocol: a simple, fast protocol that sends data without setting up a connection and without checking whether it arrived; used for voice, video, DNS and gaming.
  • port forwardingA NAT rule that sends traffic arriving on a public IP address and port to a specific device and port inside a private network, so that an internal service can be reached from outside.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: APIs, Networking and Security

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