How to opwn and close network ports

[Alistair Smythe]

I am new to networking and I want to know how to open and close network
ports? It a skill that I think I should know

 

[Ross Durie]

Try a router, a firewall. Use your brain.

 

[Patrick Michael]

I am new to networking and I want to know how to open and close network
ports? It a skill that I think I should know

It really depends on what type of router/firewall you're using. Exactly
what do you want to do, and with what software/equipment?

 

[John West]

what software or router are you using ?

 

[Steven L Umbach]

The link below will be a great start. --- Steve

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/Security/topics/network/firewall.mspx

 

[PlazticSoul]

It really depends on what type of router/firewall you're using. Exactly
what do you want to do, and with what software/equipment?

I think he was wanting to know if there was a way to open and close them
manually, without the use of a firewall. I was kinda wondering, too. I doubt
that knowledge would have many practical applications, though.

 

[Steven L Umbach]

Beyond using a firewall or some sort of port filtering such as tcp/ip
filtering or an ipsec policy the way to open and close ports is by enabling
or disabling the service or application associated with the port. There are
utilities like Fport or TCPView that can show which processes/executables
are using a port and the netstat -b command can also do that in XP SP2. For
instance disabling the telnet server service will close port 23 tcp on the
server. --- Steve