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Which layer of the model OSI and TCP/IP is the port Number?

Hi everyone,

I am in a confusion of some network concept that speaks of port number.

my question is on which layer of the model OSI and TCP / IP is the port number?

 

cf. https://twitter.com/LearningatCisco/status/972562741910278144cf. https://twitter.com/LearningatCisco/status/972562741910278144

 

Identifying the Applications

To pass data streams to the proper applications, the transport layer must identify the target application (Figure 3). To accomplish this, the transport layer assigns each application an identifier called a port number. Each software process that needs to access the network is assigned a port number unique to that host. cf. CCNA 1 Chapter 9 section 9.1 topics 9.1.2

 

Kind Regards, 

10 Replies 10

Joseph W. Doherty
Hall of Fame
Hall of Fame
4.

thanks for your quick answer, but when you say 4. I presume 4th layer of the OSI model or TCP / IP?

Yes, its the 4th layer (transport) of the 7 layers for the OSI model.

Reading your last post/question, if you're also asking about the TCP/IP model, it's the 3rd layer (transport) of the 4 layers for that model.

Port numbers, in IP, are used by both TCP and UDP. Port numbers all quick "sorting" of received packets, to processes that want them. Some applications have been "assigned" specific port numbers. For example, HTTP has assigned to it port 80. So, when a client wants to contact a HTTP server, its uses destination port of 80 and a source port unique to the process making the request. This allows the receiving host to send any received packets with a destination of port 80 to the processes "listening" for those packets, which if there is one, would normally be a HTTP server process.

When the HTTP server responds, it uses the client's source port as the reply's destination port and it might use port 80 for the reply packet's source port. This allows the original client to forward the port quickly to the process that made the request.

Although many applications have "assigned" ports, applications might use other port numbers. I.e. the port number doesn't control an application, it's just a convenience. For example, you could configure a HTTP server to "listen" on port 8080. Now, either the client needs to know that too, or it would need to send its HTTP request to all possible 65K port numbers.

thank you very much. but if not, have you seen the image with the # tag Ciscocert? how do you explain the presence of logical port at the session layer not transport?

Ah, well you wrote "logical" port, and that, along with "session" layer are important.

TCP/UDP ports are physical, and don't need to be used for a session, as in the case of UDP.

the image comes from CISCO. So logical port at the level of the SESSION layer of the OSI model is equal to the port number (ex: 80 for HTTP)?

No, a logical port would be more akin to a 'NIX socket.

please can you have the example of logical port?

thanks

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