this post was submitted on 28 Jun 2023
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Explain Like I'm Five

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ELI5: In computer networking, what is a port? (self.explainlikeimfive)
submitted 1 year ago by BackOnMyBS to c/explainlikeimfive
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I often see that network settings have a field for logical port. What is this field.referring to?

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[โ€“] [email protected] 26 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Imagine a computer is like a building that can provide goods and services such as coffee shop, travel agency, bookshop, movie rental, etc. and has a street address, that would be the network address. That address would take you to the building door, but you still need to know on what floor is the service you're looking for. That would be the port number.

[โ€“] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago

Expanding on the building analogy. It's more like a package gets dropped off at the building with a room number (port number) attached. The building mail room (operating system) Then hands this package off to the room number listed. With the room being some process ruining on the computer