What is a Proxy Port & Proxy Address?

A lot of people have no idea about proxy ports. If you want to understand the concept of a proxy port and want to learn everything about it, then you can read more about it in this article. 

If you have been looking into proxy ports, chances are that you already know what IP addresses are; IP addresses can be defined as unique identifiers of devices that are connected to the internet.

While you can try to see it in any other way, an IP address can be seen as a house address, in layman’s terms. 

However, knowing the exact location of your house is simply not enough; it is also important for you to know which door you can use to enter the house, which is where IP ports can be introduced.

While we will primarily focus on proxy ports in this article, we will also talk about the workings of Internet Protocol and proxy server addresses and ports. 

Since the IP address and port make the basis of proxy address and port, you will not be able to understand anything about them unless you can grasp the working of the internet. 

While proxy ports will be the main discussion of this article, we will also incorporate general ports and IP addresses to make things simpler for you.

You will also learn about what proxy numbers and ports are. We will also look into some popular IP ports that can be used in proxy servers, among many other things that you should know about. 

What is an IP Port Number?

In today’s time, almost every device that can be connected to the internet will have a dedicated IP address; the IP (Internet Protocol) address can loosely be defined as a unique number that is assigned to the device as a means of communication and identification. 

But the question here remains – does the data communicate with the computer system when it gets connected to it? If you are trying to communicate with a remote server, your messages will not be intercepted because it is not meant to be. 

The IP port is a logical construct that serves as the communication endpoint that identifies a type of network service or a specific process. This number that is assigned to each port is called the port number. 

Typically, the port number ranges between 0 and 65535.

The port numbers have some standard usage like web browsing, file transfers, e-mail communication, etc. Every port will have a predefined usage.

Of course, you are not forced to follow this standard; however, not doing so may lead to complications. 

How IP Ports Relate with Proxy Ports?

There are not a lot of differences between proxy ports and IP ports. In this case, the proxy server will have an IP address from where you can send through your web requests.

The port is greatly limited when it comes to the number that is available to you as a proxy server; the ports that will be available for use will depend on the port that is provided to you by the proxy server admin. 

Unlike Internet-enabled devices or regular servers, proxy servers will not respect standard and conventional; in the rare instance that they do, they will often hide the fact that they are proxy servers. 

Some ports like 9050, 9580, 444, and 1080 are either reserved or not for official proxy servers.

However, most anonymous proxy providers would not be able to use them as it could mean that they would be revealed as proxies to the ISPs (Internet Service Providers) and ultimately get blocked. 

What is an Proxy Port Number?

Proxy servers make use of port numbers as endpoints for proxy tools instead of different types of communications. Port numbers can be used to differentiate proxy pools from different proxies and countries. 

Simply accessing a proxy service does not imply that you will be provided access to all the ports; this is because they have ports and tiers that you can access, depending on the purchased package.

The proxy port will only be available to you if you are authorized to access it; or else, your traffic will not be allowed to pass through. 

How Does Proxy Ports Differ from Proxy Address?

If you are new to this subject, you may not have the answer to this question. As we have mentioned previously, proxy ports are the endpoints to proxy pools.

In this case, what are proxy addresses? Users can remotely access proxy servers. Since it is accessed remotely, you will have to provide a specific address to a proxy server.

Hence, there is a requirement for a proxy address. The proxy address can be seen as the IP address of the proxy.

However, it will also depend on the provider you are using, or else it can be quite confusing. 

The host/proxy address is the proxy server’s IP address for most data-center proxies. Thankfully, most providers offer sub-domains as proxy addresses for residential proxies. 

Simply having a proxy address is simply not enough; you will require an endpoint for communication. A port pair and a proxy address mostly look something like xcr.proxydm.com:8080.

On one hand, xcr.proxydm.com is technically a proxy address, the port here will be 8080 and will be utilized for accessing whatever endpoint you are looking at. 

How to Find Proxy Server Address and Port?

If you have been looking for ways to find the IP address of a proxy server, you will be glad to know that the process is quite easy.

There are primarily two ways to get it done – for the first method, you will have to check the proxy settings of your computer system. In this method, the procedure will vary based on the operating system. 

For people who use the Windows operating system, you can tap here to find the proxy address of the connected proxy server.

In the same article, you will also read about how you can check the proxy address of your Mac devices. 

While the steps that you read in the guide are easy to understand, the proxy address may not provide you the port and IP address of the request that is being routed through at times.

This can be seen more in mobile and residential proxies that make use of sub-domains, unlike IP addresses as proxy addresses. 

It does not matter what IP lookup tool you use; you should know that not all of them will be able to provide you with the information you are looking for.

You can make use of the MyIP tool website to find both the port and the IP address. 

Commonly Used Default Proxy Ports

Now, let us learn what proxy servers commonly use as default ports. As mentioned previously, proxy providers do not utilize ports, unlike as stated by the standard.

Instead, they make use of them for partitioning their services and ensuring that nothing gets detected. 

For several similar reasons, you may not see any proxy-specific port in this article.

While default proxy port numbers can be used by proxy servers, doing so will reveal that the clients will make use of proxy servers.

For now, let us look into some popular ports that are used today:

HTTP(S) Proxy Ports

HTTP, or also known as HyperText Transfer Protocol, is the protocol that is often used to transmit hypermedia documents, like HTML.

In most cases, this is supported by most web clients for general web browsing. This type of protocol generally has a high level of security and is denoted by www.

There are three types of HTTP proxy ports that are used today:

• Port 80, 8080, 8008

Port 80 is used as the port for HTTP communication; it is also the most popular and often used for www (World Wide Web). This port is used for insecure HTTP and the data is transmitted as plain text. 

8008 and 8080 are alternatives to Port 80; however, this does not imply that the Port 80 in proxies means encrypted data – this is exactly what your Internet Service Provider will think of such a port. 

• Port 443

Apart from the normal HTTP protocol, you will also find another protocol known as HTTPS or HTTP Secure. At times, this protocol is also known as HTTP over TLS/SSL. 

Secure communication cannot happen over insecure ports like Port 80. Therefore, you must make use of a secure and encrypted port, like Port 443.

Most VPN servers end up using this type of port; apart from safety, this port is also indistinguishable from other regular web servers. 

Socks Proxy Port

SOCKS is the internet protocol that is used to exchange network packets between a server and a client via a proxy server.

There is no actual port allocated to them, unlike in the case of HTTP proxies. On the other hand, the SOCKS proxy does get allocated. 

• Port 1080 And 1081

These are two types of ports that are reserved for SOCK proxy communication. The interesting aspect here is that the proxy services do not make use of them. Additionally, it will also inform the ISP that you are making use of a proxy server. 

Squid Proxy Port (3128)

If you are looking for a known forwarding and caching web proxy, then Squid is definitely a great choice.

The tool makes use of the 3128 port by default; this port is always in use. For whatever reason you want to change it, you can learn how to do so in this guide ‘Changing Squid proxy default port’. 

However, you should also know that most proxy servers do not follow the standards. Hence, if you make use of any of these ports, it should be for any other reason than for following convention. 

Most proxy servers make use of other types of ports; however, ports 443, 8080, and 80 remain popular. 

Commonly Closed Ports in Proxy Services

Of course, there are already thousands of ports already available; however, some of them are closed for undisclosed reasons or not in use.

It is also possible that your operating system will keep it closed for various types of security reasons or may also use it as a backdoor. 

Apart from security reasons, proxy servers also close their IP addresses to enforce some rules and prevent spam.

In this aspect, one of the most popular ports that have been closed is Port 25, which was used for SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) email routing.

This has been put in place to prevent spamming via email. You might even be interested to know that some ISPs have closed down this port by default. 

Then, there are many other types of ports like the 6881-6889 that have been closed down to prevent illegitimate online activities like torrenting.

This port has often been used by BitTorrent. Overall, you should know and understand that the proxy server has the right to close and open ports. 

Conclusion

It is important to stress that the proxy port number has certain conventions that proxy servers, at times, do not even follow.

In such cases, it can be said that there are no standards. Even in the case of some commonly used ports, you can still make use of randomly chosen ports for the same tasks. 

Proxy service provides, utilize proxy ports for internal tasks as well as partitioning the proxy pool.

Therefore, it is important to get in touch with a provider and understand what ports are currently open and what they are used for.