Ever have a situation where you’d like to know what TCP/IP ports are open on your server?  Maybe you want to map database mirroring endpoints to specific ports or perhaps you need to replicate data through a specific port in a firewall out into the Internet?

In a situation like this, you’re best served by using an unassigned port number from the IANA registration database found at http://www.iana.org/assignments/port-numbers.  That way, you can be certain that you don’t choose a port that is in conflict with another application that is installed or will be installed some time in the future.  You could also take a short cut of using the dynamic or private ports in the range of 49125 to 65535.

Enjoy,

-Kev