What term describes the port to which application traffic is directed?

What term describes the port to which application traffic is directed?

• A. Source port
• B. Destination port
• C. IP address
• D. Subnet mask

Answer: (B)

The destination port is the port to which application traffic is directed. In TCP and UDP, each packet includes both a source port and a destination port. The destination port tells the receiving host which specific application or service should process the payload (for example, web traffic typically targets port 80 for HTTP or port 443 for HTTPS). The source port is used by the sender to distinguish this particular connection and to receive replies, not to indicate where the data should go on the destination. IP address identifies the specific host, and the subnet mask defines the network segment; neither determines the target application.

The destination port is the port to which application traffic is directed. In TCP and UDP, each packet includes both a source port and a destination port. The destination port tells the receiving host which specific application or service should process the payload (for example, web traffic typically targets port 80 for HTTP or port 443 for HTTPS). The source port is used by the sender to distinguish this particular connection and to receive replies, not to indicate where the data should go on the destination. IP address identifies the specific host, and the subnet mask defines the network segment; neither determines the target application.