I have a question about ports and networking!

[noojoo]

Do a) ports send the information to certain clients or b) are they just a medium through which data travels through?

For example:
a) can this happen?
DATA ----------------------------- port 6112 - warcraft
----------------------------- port 8080 - secure http

b) can this happen?
DATA ----------------------------- port 6112 - warcraft
----------------------------- port 8080 - warcraft

 

[J03]

Ahh - I know how they work, but its hard to put into words! I will try when i dont feel so... sore!

 

[Toby1]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TCP_and_UDP_port

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_TCP_and_UDP_port_numbers

 

[Sugarat]

Think of remote systems as houses with lots of doors. The port is the door number, behind which a certain program is waiting.

 

[falcon1]

A port is associated with a certain program. Often times you can configure which port you would like a certain program to use, but it doesn't really change dynamically or anything.

A good analogy, like Sugarat said, is a house. If you close all the "doors" nothing gets in or out. With computer security, like home security, it is good to try and keep as many "doors" (ports) closed as you can. No point in making yourself more vulnerable than necessary.