this post was submitted on 28 Jun 2023
86 points (100.0% liked)
Explain Like I'm Five
14004 readers
46 users here now
Simplifying Complexity, One Answer at a Time!
Rules
- Be respectful and inclusive.
- No harassment, hate speech, or trolling.
- Engage in constructive discussions.
- Share relevant content.
- Follow guidelines and moderators' instructions.
- Use appropriate language and tone.
- Report violations.
- Foster a continuous learning environment.
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
The simplest description, and the one that stuck with me, is telephone extensions. You have one general phone number (your computer's IP), but to reach a certain program inside the computer you have to dial a certain extension (port number) as the program is only listening on that particular extension. Some of those extensions are predefined so you don't need the know them, they are programmed into the sender software (web traffic over 443 (https) or 80 (http) for example, others you need to know the extension to be able to communicate (a friend setting up a Minecraft server for example). A firewall can block certain types of traffic by not allowing traffic to certain extensions (you can't communicate with the torrent client if those extensions are blocked), port forwarding works by taking traffic for a certain extension and sending it out over another, ...