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7. Principles for Service Name and Transport Protocol Port Number Registry Management

7. Principles for Service Name and Transport Protocol Port Number Registry Management​

This section describes the principles that guide the IETF and IANA in their role as the long-term joint stewards of the service name and port number registry.

7.1. Past Principles​

Historically, port numbers were assigned based on the "first come, first served" principle. This approach worked reasonably well when the rate of port number requests was low.

7.2. Updated Principles​

This document establishes updated principles for managing the service name and port number registry:

  1. Uniqueness: Each service name and port number combination must be unique within its scope.
  2. Stability: Once assigned, service names and port numbers should remain stable and should not be reassigned unless absolutely necessary.
  3. Conservation: The port number space is finite (65536 values), so conservation is important. Service names without port numbers are RECOMMENDED when possible.
  4. Transparency: Assignment procedures should be clear, documented, and consistently applied.
  5. Fairness: All requesters should be treated equally, regardless of their organizational affiliation.
  6. Responsiveness: IANA should process requests in a timely manner.
  7. Expert Review: Technical experts should review requests to ensure they meet established criteria.
  8. Public Registry: All assignments should be publicly documented in the registry.
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