Port 480 sits in the well-known ports range (0-1023), officially assigned by IANA to a service called "iafdbase." There's just one problem: almost no one knows what iafdbase actually does.
What We Know (And Don't Know)
Official Assignment: IANA lists port 480 as assigned to "iafdbase" for both TCP and UDP.1
Alternative Name: Security databases like SANS list the same port as "loadsrv."2
Related Service: Port 479 is assigned to "iafserver" - suggesting iafdbase and iafserver are related services.3
What It Does: Unknown. Public documentation is virtually nonexistent.
The name "iafdbase" suggests "IAF Database" - but what IAF stands for, what application uses it, or who originally registered it remains unclear. Some speculation points to Iris Associates (creators of Lotus Notes), but there's no concrete evidence linking these ports to that software.
The Well-Known Ports Range
Port 480 belongs to the well-known ports range (0-1023). These ports are assigned by IANA and theoretically reserved for specific, standardized services. Getting a well-known port assignment requires going through IANA's formal registration process.
In practice, many well-known ports were assigned in the 1980s and 1990s to services that are now defunct, forgotten, or were never widely deployed. The registry preserves these assignments - bureaucratic ghosts that occupy address space but serve no active purpose.
Why This Matters
Obscure port assignments like iafdbase reveal something important about Internet infrastructure: not everything is documented. The port registry contains hundreds of entries whose original context has been lost. The companies that registered them may no longer exist. The applications may have been discontinued decades ago. The engineers who knew what they were for have moved on.
Yet the assignments remain, permanent fixtures in a registry that almost never removes entries.
Checking What's Actually Using Port 480
If you want to see what's actually listening on port 480 on your system:
Linux/macOS:
Windows:
Most systems will show nothing. Port 480 is assigned, but rarely used.
The Unassigned Majority
While port 480 has an official assignment (however obscure), the vast majority of the 65,535 available ports are unassigned:
- 0-1023: Well-known ports (IANA-assigned, like port 480)
- 1024-49151: Registered ports (IANA-registered for specific applications)
- 49152-65535: Dynamic/ephemeral ports (not assigned, used temporarily)
Most network traffic you generate uses ephemeral ports - randomly selected temporary ports that exist for the duration of a connection, then disappear.
Related Ports
- Port 479 — iafserver (companion service to iafdbase)
- Ports 476-490 — Various registered services with similarly obscure documentation
Frequently Asked Questions
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