Just to add my voice and say the same thing that others have said... It's really not possible.
A port number is just a (numeric) variable in a program. There's no way the system could know every possible instance that a program would use a different port. On my system I have thousands of one-off test programs that I've written over the past 20ish years that I keep as examples, and a lot of them listen on TCP ports because I do a lot of writing/teaching TCP/IP programming. The system would have to analyze all of those programs and somehow know every possible port they could use -- and then because they were one-off programs, that port would never be used again. It really wouldn't work.
Likewise, third party applications often come with optional features that you don't use -- and many times these have network capabilities that use ports. You wouldn't want the system telling you that all of these are being used when you never plan to use that particular feature.
Your best bet would be to create documentation (Word doc, spreadsheet, Wiki, etc) or maybe a database where you document all of the applications you use and what ports they use. Sorry -- I wish there were an easier way. (This is a daily problem for me because I'm constantly working on network applications and need a free port to use!)
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Scott Klement
Director
Profound Logic Software
Oak Creek WI
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Original Message:
Sent: Tue April 12, 2022 03:30 PM
From: Jon Paris
Subject: TLS Port for Web Services Server
Next to impossible really Rob. For example I have 3 or 4 "play" HTTP configurations all of which use the same port. But at any given time any on of those or none will be active. And of course these days not only is Apache is not the only game in town but there might be midcroservices running under something like ILEastic where the port used is declared in the code itself. =node.js does the same thing.
A better bet might be to look to the firewall;l configuration - can't use a port that won't open!
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Jon Paris
Original Message:
Sent: Mon April 11, 2022 10:10 AM
From: Robert Berendt
Subject: TLS Port for Web Services Server
Knowing what ports may possibly be in use, but just not active at this time, would be difficult. Not only are there config files for various IBM supplied websites, such as Navigator, but there are a myriad of other such files on your system. For example a vendor package such as GoAnywhere.
Just knowing the hoops one might have to jump through when changing IP addresses (such as a data center move) is tricky.
Change IP Address - MidrangeWiki
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Robert Berendt
Original Message:
Sent: Mon April 11, 2022 09:46 AM
From: Amy Vozza
Subject: TLS Port for Web Services Server
That's good to know. Is there no easy way to know what port is actually available and not just down? Thanks for the info about submitting ideas.
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Amy Vozza
Original Message:
Sent: Fri April 08, 2022 09:11 AM
From: Robert Berendt
Subject: TLS Port for Web Services Server
Available is in the eye of the beholder. Some service using one of the ports in that range may be down at this time. So netstat, or the sql service mentioned, will show it as available.
However if you do want to have it generate based on the next available port then you can try submitting an idea at:
https://ideas.ibm.com
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Robert Berendt
Original Message:
Sent: Thu April 07, 2022 11:26 AM
From: Amy Vozza
Subject: TLS Port for Web Services Server
Thanks for the information. Knowing a range to look at is helpful. That SQL makes it easier, too.
It sure would be awesome if the Configure TLS wizard brought up the next available port to use for that instead of us having to manually find one.
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Amy Vozza
Original Message:
Sent: Thu April 07, 2022 02:36 AM
From: Markus Neuhold
Subject: TLS Port for Web Services Server
Hi Amy
Assuming you do only have one IP address enabled für you server you will definitely have to use a different port for each web services server. Otherwise you are not able to route the traffic to that server http(s)://<server-ip or server-dns>:<destination port>/...
And yes you may use any unused port, best practice is to use anything free in the higher port number range eg. 60001 for customer workloads. To determine already used ports you may use netstat as posted by Jack or this sql services:
SELECT CONNECTION_TYPE, LOCAL_PORT, PROTOCOL, LOCAL_PORT_NAME, COUNT(*) AS CONNECTIONS
FROM QSYS2.NETSTAT_INFO
GROUP BY CONNECTION_TYPE, LOCAL_PORT, PROTOCOL, LOCAL_PORT_NAME
ORDER BY 1, 2
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Markus Neuhold
Original Message:
Sent: Wed April 06, 2022 03:25 PM
From: Amy Vozza
Subject: TLS Port for Web Services Server
Do we need to set a unique port for each web services server where we want to configure TLS? If so, can I just designate any unused port for that?
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Amy Vozza
Original Message:
Sent: Wed April 06, 2022 02:58 PM
From: Jack Woehr
Subject: TLS Port for Web Services Server
The netstat command can tell you about ports in use.
Probably your https server (apache, the admin server, etc.) is using the default TLS port (443)
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Jack Woehr
IBM Champion 2021 -2022
Original Message:
Sent: Wed April 06, 2022 02:04 PM
From: Amy Vozza
Subject: TLS Port for Web Services Server
Where can I find recent information specific to what port to set as the TLS port in configuring TLS for a web services server? I'm getting a Warning message ZUI_13321 about the port I've selected saying the port is in use. Do we need to set a unique port for each web services server where we want to configure TLS? How do I determine what port numbers that can be set there?
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Amy Vozza
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