I've written a WCF Service hosted by a Windows Service and it needs to listen on a known TCP/IP port. From what range can I safely allocate a port for use within my organization? That port will be embedded in the config files for the service and the clients that are consuming the service.
6 Answers
Pick a port number from 49152 through 65535.
IANA publishes a list of currently assigned ports.
http://www.iana.org/assignments/port-numbers
The Dynamic and/or Private Ports are those from 49152 through 65535. This is the range from where you SHOULD pick a port for your in-house applications. Of course any port belonging to one of the unassigned ranges on the published list can be used. But be aware that by picking a port number from those unassigned ranges there is no guarantee whatsoever that the port you choose will not be a reserved port in the future.
UNASSIGNED PORT NUMBERS SHOULD NOT BE USED. THE IANA WILL ASSIGN THE NUMBER FOR THE PORT AFTER YOUR APPLICATION HAS BEEN APPROVED.
And make sure that the port number you pick is configurable as you stated:
That port will be embedded in the config files for the service and the clients that are consuming the service.
This will avoid headaches in case some other 3rd party you-cannot-touch software is using your port number. If that happens you just go ahead and change it on the configuration file and it just works.
Short answer: Avoid anything up to and including 1023, or over 49152, and test the chosen port against services on your network.
If you've taken the reasonable precautions that it appears you have (putting the port number in a config file), it shouldn't be an enormous disruption if you later discover a conflict.
But (so that I can add something to the other suggestions that have popped up while I've been typing) make sure that you make it easy to change! If it's in config files, make it obvious. Document it, and point it out in troubleshooting. It's the sort of thing that could go wrong, so make it easy to debug if it needs changing.
In addition to the other suggestions about picking a common application port, I'd suggest that you make the port configurable within your application. Hard-coded port numbers are a bad idea, particularly if you later find a port conflict with another application and need to change yours.
Here is a good list of common application ports. Make your own choice in an empty slot. Maybe you should also scan your network for any in-house special application.
Typically high numbers port are available and I would suggest them but they could be blocked by firewalls.
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