Port 1599 sits in the registered ports range with an official IANA assignment to something called "simbaservices." On paper, it's properly documented. In practice, it's one of those ports that makes system administrators scratch their heads.
What's Officially There
Port: 1599
Protocol: TCP/UDP
Service name: simbaservices
Status: Registered with IANA
The name suggests a connection to Simba Technologies, a company that builds ODBC and JDBC drivers for database connectivity.1 These drivers are embedded in major platforms like Microsoft Power BI, Tableau, and Google BigQuery.
If you're using business intelligence software that connects to databases, there's a decent chance Simba's code is somewhere in the stack. Port 1599 presumably exists to support that connectivity.
The Mystery
Here's where it gets strange. In 2008, a system administrator posted to a Unix forum asking what "simbaservices" was. They'd found it in /etc/services on their AIX servers after a Java upgrade. Network traces showed Windows clients attempting anonymous FTP sessions using this port. IBM support had no documentation about it.2
The thread has no resolution. Seventeen years later, technical documentation about what actually uses port 1599 remains sparse.
This is the reality of the registered port range. Someone applied for the number, IANA granted it, and now it exists in configuration files and port databases across the Internet—whether or not anyone remembers why.
What the Registered Range Means
Port 1599 lives in the registered ports range (1024-49151). Unlike well-known ports (0-1023) that require root privileges and carry protocols everyone knows, registered ports are assigned to specific applications on request.
The idea is coordination. If your software needs a port, you ask IANA for one. You get a number. That number becomes yours. Other developers check the registry and avoid conflicts.
In theory, this prevents chaos. In practice, many registered ports are:
- Assigned to software that's no longer maintained
- Used by applications that never became widely deployed
- Listed in
/etc/serviceson systems that don't actually run the service - Mysteries even to the people who administer the systems they appear on
Port 1599 seems to be all of these at once.
How to Check What's Actually Listening
If you see port 1599 in your network logs or system configuration, here's how to check if anything is actually using it:
On Linux or macOS:
On Windows:
If something is listening, the output will show you which process owns it. If nothing appears, the port exists in theory but not in practice on your system.
Why Unassigned and Mysterious Ports Matter
The port system works because of a combination of strict rules (well-known ports) and loose coordination (registered ports). Port 1599 demonstrates both the strength and weakness of this approach.
Strength: A company building database connectivity software could get a port number without stepping on anyone else's toes. The registration prevents conflicts.
Weakness: Once registered, ports can outlive their purpose. Documentation disappears. Maintainers move on. The number persists in registries and configuration files, generating questions from administrators who find it and wonder what it's for.
This is the archaeology of the Internet. Layers of decisions made decades ago, still present in the systems we run today, often with incomplete explanations for why they exist.
Port 1599 is registered. It has a name. It probably does something related to database connectivity when the right Simba software is installed. But if you find it running on your system and wonder what it's doing there, you're in good company. So did the administrators in 2008. So might the next person who searches for it.
Some mysteries persist not because they're unsolvable, but because no one with the answer has bothered to write it down.
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