portsnamed

portsnamed is a software utility designed to manage and query network port assignments. It allows users to easily look up the service associated with a specific TCP or UDP port number, or conversely, to find the port number for a known service. This is particularly useful for network administrators, developers, and anyone troubleshooting network connectivity issues. The tool typically relies on a local database, often a copy of the official IANA (Internet Assigned Numbers Authority) port registry, to perform its lookups.

The primary function of portsnamed is to provide a human-readable interpretation of port numbers. Instead of seeing a connection to port 80, a user might see it identified as HTTP, making the nature of the communication more apparent. It can be invoked from the command line, accepting a port number as an argument and returning the corresponding service name. Similarly, it can accept a service name and return its standard port number. This lookup capability is essential for understanding network traffic and configuring firewalls or other network devices.

portsnamed is typically distributed as part of larger networking toolkits or as a standalone utility. Its implementation can vary, but the core functionality remains consistent: bridging the gap between numerical port identifiers and their assigned service names. This simplifies network analysis and configuration by providing a more intuitive layer of abstraction over raw network protocols.