Connecting with Oracle: Oracle Ports

1521. 1810. 2481. 7778.
These are just a few of the port numbers Oracle uses in networking. Everyone
knows 1521 is the typical port number used by a listener, but how sacrosanct is
that? In other words, do other vendors know not to use 1521 for their
applications because Oracle “owns” that port number? We will see the answer to
that question later.

It is quite useful to know
which ports Oracle commonly uses. It’s also quite useful to know where to find
references to what the well-known ports are in case you inherit an environment
which uses more than the standard listener port of 1521. This article will help
clarify some facts about port usage related to Oracle. Several documents from
Oracle contain a great deal of information about port usage, and those sources
will be identified as well.

One good thing about port
usage is that this is a common thread between Windows and UNIX platforms. One
major difference has to do with the location of a file which lists port usage, but
even then, the path/file name is quite similar – /etc/services on UNIX and C:WINDOWSSYSTEM32DRIVERSETCSERVICES
on XP (or C:WINNTSYSTEM32DRIVERSETCSERVICES on NT). Some Oracle
installation guides will direct you to edit this file while others make no
mention of it. So, is it necessary to add Oracle-related port assignments to
this file?

The answer to that question
is a qualified “No, but it depends on your situation.” In many instances, where
Oracle Net Services (or Net8) appears to be working just fine, you can pretty
much ignore the services file. If you have port conflicts because of other
applications, you may need to edit this file. But, in either case, you should
edit the file as a means of documenting Oracle-related port usage. The services
file is common to all major platforms (sorry Mac users, but you know I mean
Windows and UNIX), and its purpose is to help you (or your administrator) by
storing port usage/assignment, so why not use it?

Before answering the port
1521 question, we first have to play a semantics game. What is the difference
between “well-known” and “well-known?” It depends on whether you are being
technically precise or not. The term “well-known,” when used in the context of
“what are the ports you shouldn’t mess with because some semi-official agency
regulates these ports,” refers to ports in the 0-1023 range. The semi-official
agency that regulates this range is the IANA (Internet Assigned Numbers
Authority). The IANA is “Dedicated to preserving the central coordinating
functions of the global Internet for the public good.” You can visit
their website at www.iana.org for more
information about their mission and so on.

The less restrictive
“well-known” has to do with common vernacular. In other words, the everyone
referred to in the opening paragraph just means that most software vendors know
that Oracle uses 1521 as a standard default port for one of its applications,
but Oracle does not outright own that port. Technically speaking, the port
number 1521 lies within the registered port number range. A logical question
based on Oracle’s common reliance of using 1521 would be this: Does Oracle
register 1521 with the IANA? Let’s find out.

Here is a portion of the port
numbers file at IANA:


WELL KNOWN PORT NUMBERS

The Well Known Ports are assigned by the IANA and on most systems can
only be used by system (or root) processes or by programs executed by
privileged users.

Ports are used in the TCP [RFC793] to name the ends of logical
connections which carry long term conversations. For the purpose of
providing services to unknown callers, a service contact port is
defined. This list specifies the port used by the server process as
its contact port. The contact port is sometimes called the
“well-known port”.

To the extent possible, these same port assignments are used with the
UDP [RFC768].

The range for assigned ports managed by the IANA is 0-1023.

Here is the top portion of a
typical services file on Windows:


# Copyright (c) 1993-1999 Microsoft Corp.
#
# This file contains port numbers for well-known services defined by IANA
#
# Format:
#
# <service name> <port number>/<protocol> [aliases…] [#<comment>]
#

echo 7/tcp
echo 7/udp
discard 9/tcp sink null
discard 9/udp sink null
systat 11/tcp users #Active users
systat 11/tcp users #Active users
daytime 13/tcp
daytime 13/udp
qotd 17/tcp quote #Quote of the day
qotd 17/udp quote #Quote of the day
chargen 19/tcp ttytst source #Character generator
chargen 19/udp ttytst source #Character generator
ftp-data 20/tcp #FTP, data
ftp 21/tcp #FTP. control
telnet 23/tcp

If you look in the IANA port
numbers file (http://www.iana.org/assignments/port-numbers),
you will see the ports shown above. Looking further into the IANA file for
1521, we see that, in fact, Oracle Corporation is not the registered “owner” or
vendor of 1521.


ncube-lm 1521/tcp nCube License Manager
ncube-lm 1521/udp nCube License Manager
# Maxine Yuen <maxine@hq.ncube.com>

According its website, “nCUBE is a worldwide leader in
providing On-Demand media systems (VOD) and Digital Advertising Systems.” Sure
doesn’t sound like Oracle to me. Upon further inspection of the IANA file,
you’ll see two things related to Oracle: Oracle is not the registered vendor of
many of its commonly used ports and that Oracle registers ports you typically
do not see after an Oracle product is installed. At least now you know where to
look if your attempt to create a listener on port 1521 is failing – and you
happen to be using nCube’s application on 1521 as well.

Where can you find typical
Oracle-related port assignments? As mentioned, there are several places, and
they include documentation you may not use or even be aware of. The
installation guide for Application Server 10g (9.0.4) Forms and Reports
Services, for example, contains a chapter detailing common Oracle port numbers
(or the range of numbers). This is especially useful to know as a DBA when you
are trying to access an Enterprise Manager Console of a server (PC or UNIX).
Without knowing the port number, your access to the web-based control panel for
Oracle (I like that analogy) isn’t just limited, but rather, just isn’t
possible.

Another place to find port
assignment is in the oraInventory directory’s installation logs. Hunting down
port assignments this way is harder, but at least you know Oracle recorded the
information in this area. You can also look in your ORACLE_HOME/Apache/Apache
directory if the product in question uses a web server. And, in the event you
are installing an Oracle product which you are not familiar with, keep an eye
on the dialog windows that appear at the end of the installation. Many times,
these windows (just before you exit the installer) will show you port numbers
used or configured by Oracle.

Hopefully, this article has
given you more insight into some of the behind the scenes “program activities”
(no, not like the “weapons of mass destruction program activities”) related to
Oracle’s port usage. Port 1521 is “well-known” in some circles, but Oracle is
not the only vendor to use it. Will Oracle stay on 1521 as the default listener
port? Possibly not. Table 5-2 on page 5-4 of the Oracle9i Net Services
Reference Guide states, “In future releases, this port number may change to the
officially registered port number of 2483 for TCP/IP and 2484 for TCP/IP with
SSL.” Is 2483 officially registered? Now that we know where to find that
information, we can confirm that statement. The port numbers file at IANA shows
Oracle (including a point of contact) to be the registered vendor of these
ports.


ttc 2483/tcp Oracle TTC
ttc 2483/udp Oracle TTC
ttc-ssl 2484/tcp Oracle TTC SSL
ttc-ssl 2484/udp Oracle TTC SSL
# Chandar Venkataraman <CVENKATA@us.oracle.com>

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Steve Callan

Steve Callan
Steve Callan
Steve is an Oracle DBA (OCP 8i and 9i)/developer working in Denver. His Oracle experience also includes Forms and Reports, Oracle9iAS and Oracle9iDS.

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