RE: http port

[barnesc]

>I am not a programmer, so I still don't understand why some web
>developers/programmers would hard code their web pages using non-80 http
>port. On my firewall, I only allow any web sites to go out through port
>80. Obviously this is the reason why my users that they can not access
>those sites behind the firewall.
>
>I would really appreciate if I hear some comments how you manage those
>web sites? Apart from opening those ports on the firewall policy, are
>there any other methods?

The non-port-80 stuff is really an artifact of the days before HTTP 1.1   On older webservers you could not run a second site on port 80 without adding an IP address.  This was pretty common for having a test site (or running a personal site on the company server :-).

Now, with HTTP 1.1 you can run dozens of named virtual hosts on the same IP address (eg. www.domain.com and test.domain.com).  The alternate port is still useful if you want to run multiple webservers on the same server (eg. Apache and Domino).  This is good for testing, but not something you would expect on a production site.

If your users have specific sites they need to use on nonstandard ports, I would suggest you open the required port only for the specific IP address or range.  

CB
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|  Group Information Technology -- Toronto ON
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