port
(n.) (1) An interface on a computer to which you can connect a device. Personal computers have various types of ports. Internally, there are several ports for connecting disk drives, display screens, and keyboards. Externally, personal computers have ports for connecting modems, printers, mice, and other peripheral devices.
Almost all personal computers come with a serial RS-232C port or RS-422 port for connecting a modem or mouse and a parallel port for connecting a printer. On PCs, the parallel port is a Centronics interface that uses a 25-pin connector. SCSI (Small Computer System Interface) ports supporthigher transmission speeds than do conventional ports and enable you to attach up to seven devices to the same port.
(2) In TCP/IP and UDP networks, an endpoint to a logical connection. The port number identifies what type of port it is. For example, port 80 is used for HTTP traffic.
Read Also:
- port forwarding
In home networking, port forwarding, also called port mapping or punch-through, enables you to create a permanent translation entry that maps a protocol port on your gateway machine to an IP address and protocol port on your private LAN. It’s a transparent process, meaning network clients cannot see that port forwarding is being done. This […]
- port replicator
(pōrt rep´li-kāt-&r) (n.) A device containing common PC ports, such as serial and parallel ports, that plugs into a notebook computer. The purpose of the device is to allow you to easily attach a portable computer to standard, non-portable devices such as a printer and monitor. For example, if you use a computer both at […]
- port scan
See port scanning.
- Port Scanning
The act of systematically scanning a computer’s ports. Since a port is a place where information goes into and out of a computer, port scanning identifies open doors to a computer. Port scanning has legitimate uses in managing networks, but port scanning also can be malicious in nature if someone is looking for a weakened […]
- port triggering
A type of port forwarding where outbound traffic on predetermined ports sends inbound traffic to specific incoming ports. Port triggering “triggers” an open incoming port when a client on the local network makes an outgoing connection to a predetermined port on a server. Port Triggering is more secure than port forwarding, because the incoming ports […]