Port 619 is officially assigned to Compaq EVM (Enterprise Volume Management), a hardware-based snapshot engine from the Compaq era of enterprise servers. If you've never heard of it, you're not alone—this is a ghost from 1990s data centers.
What Compaq EVM Was
Compaq Enterprise Volume Management was a storage management solution designed to solve a specific problem: how do you back up massive amounts of data without bringing your production server to its knees?
The answer: snapshots and clones.
Instead of backing up data directly from the production server—which consumed CPU, memory, and I/O bandwidth—EVM created a snapshot or clone of the storage volume. The backup system would then work with the snapshot while the production server continued running undisturbed.1
This was elegant. The production workload didn't suffer. The backup happened in the background. IT administrators could sleep at night.
The Protocol
Port 619 uses TCP for communication between the EVM management software and the storage hardware performing the snapshot operations.2
The service operated as a client-server model:
- The management interface (likely running on an admin workstation) would connect to the storage array
- Commands would be sent over TCP port 619
- The array would create snapshots or clones based on those instructions
- Backup agents could then mount those snapshots and perform the actual backup
What Happened to Compaq
Compaq was one of the giants of the 1990s server market. They introduced the ProLiant server line in 1993 and became a dominant force in enterprise computing.3
Then in 2002, HP acquired Compaq for $25 billion. The Compaq brand faded. The ProLiant name survived under HP (now HPE). Many Compaq-specific management tools—including EVM—were gradually replaced or absorbed into HP's ecosystem.
Port 619 remains assigned to Compaq EVM in the IANA registry, but the service itself is effectively obsolete. Modern storage arrays use different snapshot technologies, different protocols, different ports.
Why This Port Matters
Port 619 is a well-known port (in the 0-1023 range), meaning it was assigned by IANA and requires root privileges to bind on Unix-like systems.
Even though almost no one runs Compaq EVM anymore, the port remains reserved. This is common in the IANA registry—ports don't get reassigned just because the original service fades into history. The assignment stays, a monument to what used to matter.
If you see traffic on port 619 in a modern network, it's worth investigating. It's unlikely to be legitimate Compaq EVM traffic. It could be:
- Misconfigured software trying to use an abandoned port
- Malware using an obscure port hoping to avoid detection
- Legacy equipment that's been running longer than anyone remembers
How to Check What's Using Port 619
On Linux or macOS:
On Windows:
If something is listening on port 619, you'll see the process ID. From there, you can identify what's actually using it.
The Archaeology of Enterprise IT
Every abandoned port tells a story about what problems mattered at the time.
Port 619 tells us that in the 1990s and early 2000s, backup operations were painful enough that Compaq built dedicated hardware and protocols to offload them. Snapshots weren't a standard filesystem feature yet. Cloud backups didn't exist. You needed specialized management software just to make a clean copy of your data without tanking performance.
The problem was real. Compaq's solution worked. And then the world moved on.
Now port 619 sits mostly unused—a reserved address in the IANA registry, a footnote in networking documentation, a reminder that every port once solved a problem someone desperately needed solved.
Security Considerations
Since Compaq EVM is effectively obsolete:
- There are no modern security patches for this software
- Any system still running it is likely unpatched and vulnerable
- Attackers might use port 619 precisely because it's obscure and less monitored
If you find port 619 open on your network and you're not deliberately running ancient Compaq infrastructure, close it. There's no legitimate reason for it to be accessible in 2026.
Related Ports
Other Compaq and HP management services used different ports:
- Port 2301, 2381 — HP Insight Manager (the successor to many Compaq management tools)4
- Port 280 — http-mgmt (another management protocol)
The enterprise server management landscape of the 1990s was a patchwork of vendor-specific protocols, each with its own port assignments. Port 619 is one small piece of that history.
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