ASSIGNMENT

Since you have invested in cloud computing, it is equally essential to

avail the cloud backup service so as to maintain and manage your
data. Basically, it is just like any other backup process that involves
protecting all your essential data against specific risks. Here, users
store their backup files on an external remote server that allows them
to access their data at any time from any location via Internet.
However, there are certain pros and cons of cloud backup service.
Let’s get to know them.

Advantages of Cloud Backup

Stores your data on an external server

The second copy of your data is stored on a remote server, so in the

case of internal server breakdown or any sort of disaster, you can
recover all of your important data stored on the cloud storage. Unlike
tape recovery that usually involved a long procedure in retrieving,
recovering your file from cloud storage is easier and faster since it
literally doesn’t require physical transport from the storage location.

Ability to access your file via the internet

Even if you are located miles away from the cloud storage location, you
can access your data at anytime from anywhere through the internet.

It is highly affordable

Many business organizations are opting for cloud storage since it is a

cost-effective approach to secure a large amount of data, instead of
investing in a private server and the resources required to maintain it.
The cost of storage varies depending on the user’s requirement.

Reduces maintenance cost

The service provider offers a range of privileges to its users like they
use modern, high-tech infrastructure to store the server, so you are
assured your server is situated at an ideal place. Further, you don’t
have to worry about the maintenance since the service providers
entirely monitor and maintain the servers and also keeps a check on its
upgrades and other technical needs.

Disadvantages of Cloud Backup

Requires high internet connectivity

It needs high internet speed to obtain your data and in the case of
network issue, you won’t be able to access your folder. So make sure
you have a good internet connection that will let you complete the
procedure smoothly, without any interruptions.

Data is stored on a third-party server

Though backing up your server on an external server is a great option,

it can also be a drawback. If anything goes wrong with the third-party
server, your data will be definitely lost. Additionally, there are also
instances of data blending with other organizations. Therefore, you
must consider doing some homework from your end and find a trusted
and valued cloud service provider that will offer top-level security and
contending services. Consider this factor as extremely important as
you will be sharing all your private data and credentials as well.

Determine the bandwidth allowance

Certain service providers allow unlimited bandwidth, but there are

several other providers that offer limited allowance and can charge you
additional cost if you surpass the allotment. This is certainly a matter
of concern and thus, organizations must ensure their bandwidth
allowance from the service provider when they opt for cloud storage.

Given the fact, you must always consider backing up your data in order
to keep your file safe and secured. In addition, you can find several
cloud storage providers offering finest cloud solutions at considerably
less price.  

Automated Cloud backup Solution and their Advantages

What are the advantages of cloud storage for businesses?

Finding the best Cloud Backup and Disaster Recovery Solution

Data Backup Services: Few Things to Consider

How is cloud file-sharing beneficial for businesses?

cloud backup server cloud hosting benefitscloud storage India

A comparison of backup media:

tape, disk, cloud storage, and
more!
Photo credit: Jaymis Loveday

When an organization decides to set up a backup program, one of the first

questions an administrator should ask is how the back up will function.
Perhaps the very first question in a long list is, "What type of storage will be
used?"

Different media have come and gone for storage. In this article, we’ll look at
the most prevalent types in the industry.  This is not meant to be a
discussion of the history of backup media nor an examination of “retro-
computing,” so obscure and obsolete storage formats (large optical disks, for
example) will not be explored here.

Using cloud storage

Is cloud storage a medium or a method? The answer is: both. Cloud storage
is becoming an increasingly popular method of storing backup data, whether
through a formal backup process or simply manually moving data to (for
example) a Google Documents folder for a user. The advantage is that it is
independent of physical media and relies solely on the accessibility of a
remote server. It requires little infrastructure on the client side: There are no
tapes to house or data to verify, and retrieving a backup is as simple as
connecting to the remote server in whatever fashion is required and pulling
the data down. Of course, if an outage precludes getting on the internet, it
can be difficult to restore data quickly.
Tape backup

Tape backup takes many forms; from half-inch reel tapes still in use in legacy
systems, all the way to DLT (Digital Linear Tape). It is this last form factor
that is most commonly used today. DLT drives can be purchased as simple
desktop (or shelf), stand-alone models that connect directly to a local system
via SCSI or other interface, all the way up to massive, robotically sorted tape
libraries that require little to no direct human intervention to sort, catalog,
file, and/or retrieve individual or multiple tapes.  

That said, DLT — with compression — can only store up to 80 gigabytes per
tape. However, a new format called Super-DLT allows up to 600 gigabytes of
compressed data. LTO (Linear Tape, Open) format is another type of tape
backup. While physically incompatible with DLT, it offers greater storage
capacities (for example, an LTO-3 tape can store 800 gigabytes of data
uncompressed), and a greater roadmap for improvements and
advancements of the core technology, and finally it is the most prominent
type of tape backup in use today.

If, on the other hand, if your IT environment is smaller and possibly confined
to a few stand-alone servers, and the relatively low cost of tape suits your
budget, you may find that DDS (Digital Data Storage) fits the bill. Based on
the older DAT standard, DDS still exists today, using 4mm tapes that
resemble audio cassettes.  These tapes can store up to 320 gigabytes per
tape (with compression), and are readily available, as are the drives
themselves. Their small size makes them easy to transport and store, and
stand-alone desktop, rack-mount, and bay-mount drives are available.

Optical drives
When backing up individual systems, or small numbers of them, another
option is the optical drive. Generally speaking, recordable DVDs are too small
for more than personal local backup, with dual-layer drives supporting 9.4
gigabytes each. However, for storage of larger files on a local system,
consider the Blu-Ray standard. Blu-Ray disks can store 25, 50, or 100
gigabytes of storage each. The pros are that the drives and media are
inexpensive, and can be housed in external cases and connected to systems
via USB. Cons include problems endemic to optical media recording, such as
frangibility of the media (as it is susceptible to cracks and scratches) and
problems like buffer underruns (that is, the system recording literally runs
out of data to feed onto the device while it is being sought). Generally, such
drives should only be considered for local backups rather than backing up
multiple systems across a network.

Portable drives
As the price of fast, reliable storage devices (either solid state or platter-
based hard drives) plummets, some thrifty system administrators —
especially those in small offices — might consider the external hard drive.
Like using a portable hard drive, this solution might require more literal
legwork than other methods. Additionally, if the backup process on each
machine takes a long time, this method can seriously impact production.
However, if the budget allows, and multiple drives can be bought, an
external device, whether it contains platter-based hard drives or solid state
drives (SSDs) at each workstation or other device to be backed up can
suffice. This method doesn’t scale well at all, and is recommended only for
smaller installations.

Flash storage
"Flash storage" doesn't necessarily mean Solid State Drives, but, rather
simply flash drives (a k a "thumb drives"). The types, capacities, and USB
interfaces for these are all too numerous to list in detail. One advantage of
this type of media is familiarity. Users, whether administrators or individuals
at workstations, are pretty much all cognizant of what a flash drive is and
how it is used. Inserted into a system, it shows up in the operating
environment’s file explorer or directory tree and permits transfer of
individual files or whole directory trees to it fairly easily. The drive can be
removed and stored for safekeeping. 

Furthermore, USB-C and USB3 are both capable of very high-speed transfers;
backing up data to and restoring from this type of device is easy — for the
local user. Connecting these via SAN (Storage Area Network) is another
possible solution, but chances are if a SAN is in use, other storage options
are also available. Additionally, this type of device tends to be very small
both physically and in terms of storage space; while storing them (and
transporting them) can be as easy as putting them in a pocket, it also means
that they can just as easily be pilfered. Further, their small size does not
permit easily readable text labels: Using these devices in bulk for storage
purposes would require bar-coding to remain practical.

SD and micro-SD cards

Like thumb drives, these devices can be used to quickly back up files on a
local system. However, as the micro-SD cards’ name implies, these types of
media are small and, again, best suited for targeted subsets of local data
rather than whole-business backup.

While far from every type of media that might be found in use in every
corner of every IT environment, this article provides an overview of the most
common that a network administrator or backup administrator would
encounter. Which to choose depends very heavily on factors such as budget,
size of your organization, number of systems to be backed up, and the length
of backup time, and how those backups might impact users.
The Computer Misuse Act
 The Computer Misuse Act of 1990 is a law in the United Kingdom that makes certain activities
illegal, such as hacking into other people’s systems, misusing software, or helping a person to
gain access to protected files of someone else's computer. The act was created after the 1984-
1985 R v. Gold case, which was appealed in 1988. The appeal was successful, inspiring
parliament to create a law that would make punishable the behavior committed by Robert
Schifreen and Stephen Gold. It obviously could not be applied retroactively, but it's goal was to
discourage behavior like theirs in the future.
What occurred to prompt the case and ultimately lead to the law was the following: Gold
watched an employee of Prestel at a tradeshow enter his username and password into a computer.
Gold and Schifreen then used this information from a home computer to access the system of
British Telecom Prestel, and specifically to enter the private message box of Prince Philip.
Prestel became aware of this access, trapped the two men, and charged them with fraud and
forgery. The men were convicted and fined, but they appealed their case.
Ad
One of the key aspects of the appeal was that the two men were not using the data in anyway for
personal or illegal gain. Since no material gain was involved in spying on someone else’s system,
they argued that the charges under the specific laws could not apply to them. The House of Lords
acquitted the men, but became determined to forbid this type of behavior in future. This led to
the Computer Misuse Act being developed and passed into law in 1990, two years after the
successful appeal.
The act is split into three sections and makes the following acts illegal:
 Unauthorized access to computer material
 Unauthorized access to computer systems with intent to commit another offense
 Unauthorized modification of computer material
The first section in the act forbids a person to use someone else’s identification to access a
computer, run a program, or obtain any data, even if no personal gain is involved in such access.
Individuals also cannot change, copy, delete, or move a program. The Computer Misuse Act also
outlaws any attempts to obtain someone else’s password. Obviously, if someone gives another
person his identification and he may legally use the computer, these laws under unauthorized
access do not apply.
The second provision in the law is gaining access to a computer system in order to commit or
facilitate a crime. An individual can’t use someone else’s system to send material that might be
offensive or to start worms or viruses. He also can’t give someone his identification so that he
can use a system for this purpose. This second part means that the individual would be
facilitating someone else’s intent or crime.
Unauthorized modification in the Computer Misuse Act means that a person can’t delete, change,
or corrupt data. Again, if someone puts a virus into someone else’s system, he would be violating
the act. Usually, committing unauthorized access only is thought a crime punishable by fine.
Access with intent and unauthorized modification are considered more severe and may be
punished by heavy fines and/or jail time.
USB
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigationJump to search
For the portable USB storage device, see USB flash drive. For other uses, see USB
(disambiguation).

Universal Serial Bus (USB)

The certified USB logo

Type Bus

Production history

Designer Compaq, DEC, IBM, Intel, Microsoft,

NEC, and Nortel

Designed January 1996; 24 years ago

Produced Since May 1996[1]

Superseded Serial port, parallel port, game port,

Apple Desktop Bus, PS/2 port, and
FireWire (IEEE 1394)

General specifications

Length 2–5 m (6 ft 7 in–16 ft 5 in) (by category)

Width
12 mm (type-A)[2]
8.45 mm (type-B)
6.8 mm (mini/micro)
 8.25 mm (type-C)

Height
4.5 mm (type-A)[2]
7.26 mm (type-B)
10.44 mm (type-B SuperSpeed)
1.8–3 mm (mini/micro)
2.4 mm (type-C)

Hot pluggable Yes

External Yes

Cable
4 wires plus shield
9 wires plus shield
(SuperSpeed)

Pins
4: 1 power, 2 data, 1 ground
5 (On-The-Go)
9 (SuperSpeed)
11 (Powered-B SuperSpeed)
24 (USB-C)

Connector Unique

Electrical

Signal 5 V DC

Max. voltage
5.00+0.25
−0.60 V
5.00+0.25
−0.55 V (USB 3.0)
20.00 V (PD)

Max. current
0.5 A (USB 2.0)
0.9 A (USB 3.0)
1.5 A (BC 1.2)
3 A (USB-C)
Up to 5 A (PD)
 Data

Data signal Packet data, defined by specifications

Width 1 bit

Bitrate 1.5; 12; 480; 5,000; 10,000;

20,000 Mbit/s (depending on mode)

Max. devices 127

Protocol Serial

Pin out

The USB-A plug (left) and USB-B plug (right)

Pin 1      VBUS (+5 V)

Pin 2      Data−

Pin 3      Data+

Pin 4      Ground

USB-A 3.1 Gen 1 (3.0, Also later renamed USB 3.2 Gen 1) ports

Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard that establishes specifications for cables and
connectors and protocols for connection, communication and power supply between computers,
peripheral devices and other computers.[3] Released in 1996, the USB standard is currently
maintained by the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF). There have been four generations of
USB specifications: USB 1.x, USB 2.0, USB 3.x and USB4.[4]
Overview[edit]
USB was designed to standardize the connection of peripherals to personal computers, both to
communicate with and to supply electric power. It has largely replaced interfaces such as serial
ports and parallel ports, and has become commonplace on a wide range of devices.

USB connectors have been increasingly replacing other types for battery chargers of portable
devices.

Examples of peripherals that are connected via USB include keyboards, pointing devices, digital
still and video cameras, printers, portable media players, disk drives and network adapters.

Receptacle (socket) identification[edit]

Main article: USB hardware §  Connectors

This section is intended to allow fast identification of USB receptacles (sockets) on equipment.
Further diagrams and discussion of plugs and receptacles can be found in the main article above.

Available receptacles for each connector hide

USB USB
USB 2.0 USB 3.0 USB 3.1 USB 3.2 USB4
Connectors 1.0 2.0
Revised 2011 2014 2017 2019
1996 2001
1.5 1.5 Mbit/s
Mbit/s
(Low (Low Speed)
40 Gbit/s
Speed) (SuperSpeed+
12 Mbit/s 5 Gbit/s 10 Gbit/s 20 Gbit/s
Data rate and
12 (SuperSpeed) (SuperSpeed+) (SuperSpeed+)
Thunderbolt
Mbit/s (Full Speed)
3)
(Full
Speed) 480 Mbit/s
(High Speed)
Standard Type A Deprecated
Type A

Type B Type B Deprecated

 Type C (enlarged)

N/A

Mini A

N/A
Mini B
Mini Deprecated

Mini AB
N/A

N/A

Micro B Micro B
Micro N/A
Deprecated

Micro AB
Deprecated

USB USB
USB 2.0 USB 3.0 USB 3.1 USB 3.2 USB4
Connectors 1.0 2.0
Revised 2011 2014 2017 2019
1996 2001

Objectives[edit]
The Universal Serial Bus was developed to simplify and improve the interface between personal
computers and peripheral devices, when compared with previously existing standard or ad-hoc
proprietary interfaces.[5]

From the computer user's perspective, the USB interface improved ease of use in several ways.
The USB interface is self-configuring, so the user need not adjust settings on the device and
interface for speed or data format, or configure interrupts, input/output addresses, or direct
memory access channels.[6] USB connectors are standardized at the host, so any peripheral can
use most available receptacle. USB takes full advantage of the additional processing power that
can be economically put into peripheral devices so that they can manage themselves; USB
devices often do not have user-adjustable interface settings. The USB interface is "hot
pluggable", meaning devices can be exchanged without rebooting the host computer. Small
devices can be powered directly from the USB interface, displacing extra power supply cables.
Because use of the USB logos is only permitted after compliance testing, the user can have
confidence that a USB device will work as expected without extensive interaction with settings
and configuration; the USB interface defines protocols for recovery from common errors,
improving reliability over previous interfaces.[5] Installation of a device relying on the USB
standard requires minimal operator action. When a device is plugged into a port on a running
personal computer system, it is either entirely automatically configured using existing device
drivers, or the system prompts the user to locate a driver which is then installed and configured
automatically.

For hardware manufacturers and software developers, the USB standard eliminates the
requirement to develop proprietary interfaces to new peripherals. The wide range of transfer
speeds available from a USB interface suits devices ranging from keyboards and mice up to
streaming video interfaces. A USB interface can be designed to provide the best available latency
for time-critical functions, or can be set up to do background transfers of bulk data with little
impact on system resources. The USB interface is generalized with no signal lines dedicated to
only one function of one device.[5]

Limitations[edit]

USB cables are limited in length, as the standard was meant to connect to peripherals on the
same table-top, not between rooms or between buildings. However, a USB port can be connected
to a gateway that accesses distant devices. USB has a strict "tree" topology and "master-slave"
protocol for addressing peripheral devices; peripheral devices cannot interact with one another
except via the host, and two hosts cannot communicate over their USB ports directly. Some
extension to this limitation is possible through USB On-The-Go. A host cannot "broadcast"
signals to all peripherals at once—each must be addressed individually. Some very high speed
peripheral devices require sustained speeds not available in the USB standard.[5] While converters
exist between certain "legacy" interfaces and USB, they may not provide full implementation of
the legacy hardware; for example, a USB to parallel port converter may work well with a printer,
but not with a scanner that requires bi-directional use of the data pins.

For a product developer, use of USB requires implementation of a complex protocol and implies
an "intelligent" controller in the peripheral device. Developers of USB devices intended for
public sale generally must obtain a USB ID which requires a fee paid to the Implementers'
Forum. Developers of products that use the USB specification must sign an agreement with
Implementer's Forum. Use of the USB logos on the product require annual fees and membership
in the organization.[5]

History[edit]

The basic USB trident logo[7]

USB logo on the head of a standard A plug

A group of seven companies began the development of USB in 1994: Compaq, DEC, IBM, Intel,
Microsoft, NEC, and Nortel.[8] The goal was to make it fundamentally easier to connect external
devices to PCs by replacing the multitude of connectors at the back of PCs, addressing the
usability issues of existing interfaces, and simplifying software configuration of all devices
connected to USB, as well as permitting greater data rates for external devices. Ajay Bhatt and
his team worked on the standard at Intel;[9][10] the first integrated circuits supporting USB were
produced by Intel in 1995.[11]

The original USB 1.0 specification, which was introduced in January 1996, defined data transfer
rates of 1.5 Mbit/s Low Speed and 12 Mbit/s Full Speed.[11] Draft designs had called for a single-
speed 5 Mbit/s bus, but the low speed was added to support low-cost peripherals with unshielded
cables,[12] resulting in a split design with a 12 Mbit/s data rate was intended for higher-speed
devices such as printers and floppy disk drives, and the lower 1.5 Mbit/s rate for low data rate
devices such as keyboards, mice and joysticks.[13] Microsoft Windows 95, OSR 2.1 provided
OEM support for the devices in August 1997. The first widely used version of USB was 1.1,
which was released in September 1998. Apple Inc.'s iMac was the first mainstream product with
USB and the iMac's success popularized USB itself.[14] Following Apple's design decision to
remove all legacy ports from the iMac, many PC manufacturers began building legacy-free PCs,
which led to the broader PC market using USB as a standard.[15][16][17]

The USB 2.0 specification was released in April 2000 and was ratified by the USB Implementers
Forum (USB-IF) at the end of 2001. Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Lucent Technologies (now Nokia),
NEC, and Philips jointly led the initiative to develop a higher data transfer rate, with the resulting
specification achieving 480 Mbit/s, 40 times as fast as the original USB 1.1 specification.

The USB 3.0 specification was published on 12 November 2008. Its main goals were to increase
the data transfer rate (up to 5 Gbit/s), decrease power consumption, increase power output, and
be backward compatible with USB 2.0.[18](3–1) USB 3.0 includes a new, higher speed bus called
SuperSpeed in parallel with the USB 2.0 bus.[18](1–3) For this reason, the new version is also called
SuperSpeed.[19] The first USB 3.0 equipped devices were presented in January 2010.[19][20]

As of 2008, approximately 6 billion USB ports and interfaces were in the global marketplace,
and about 2 billion were being sold each year.[21]

The USB 3.1 specification was published in July 2013.

In December 2014, USB-IF submitted USB 3.1, USB Power Delivery 2.0 and USB-C
specifications to the IEC (TC 100 – Audio, video and multimedia systems and equipment) for
inclusion in the international standard IEC 62680 (Universal Serial Bus interfaces for data and
power), which is currently based on USB 2.0.[22]

The USB 3.2 specification was published in September 2017.

USB 1.x[edit]

Released in January 1996, USB 1.0 specified data rates of 1.5 Mbit/s (Low Bandwidth or Low
Speed) and 12 Mbit/s (Full Speed).[23] It did not allow for extension cables or pass-through
monitors, due to timing and power limitations. Few USB devices made it to the market until
USB 1.1 was released in August 1998. USB 1.1 was the earliest revision that was widely adopted
and led to what Microsoft designated the "Legacy-free PC".[14][16][17]

Neither USB 1.0 nor 1.1 specified a design for any connector smaller than the standard type A or
type B. Though many designs for a miniaturised type B connector appeared on many peripherals,
conformity to the USB 1.x standard was hampered by treating peripherals that had miniature
connectors as though they had a tethered connection (that is: no plug or receptacle at the
peripheral end). There was no known miniature type A connector until USB 2.0 (revision 1.01)
introduced one.

USB 2.0[edit]
The Hi-Speed USB logo

A USB 2.0 PCI expansion card

USB 2.0 was released in April 2000, adding a higher maximum signaling rate of 480 Mbit/s (60
MB/s) named High Speed or High Bandwidth, in addition to the USB 1.x Full Speed signaling
rate of 12 Mbit/s.

Modifications to the USB specification have been made via Engineering Change Notices (ECN).
The most important of these ECNs are included into the USB 2.0 specification package available
from USB.org:[24]

 Mini-A and Mini-B Connector;

 Micro-USB Cables and Connectors Specification 1.01;
 InterChip USB Supplement;
 On-The-Go Supplement 1.3 USB On-The-Go makes it possible for two USB devices to
communicate with each other without requiring a separate USB host;
 Battery Charging Specification 1.1 Added support for dedicated chargers, host chargers
behavior for devices with dead batteries;
 Battery Charging Specification 1.2:[25] with increased current of 1.5 A on charging ports
for unconfigured devices, allowing High Speed communication while having a current up
to 1.5 A and allowing a maximum current of 5 A;
 Link Power Management Addendum ECN which adds a sleep power state.

USB 3.x[edit]

Main article: USB 3.0

The SuperSpeed USB logo

The USB 3.0 specification was released on 12 November 2008, with its management transferring
from USB 3.0 Promoter Group to the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF), and announced on 17
November 2008 at the SuperSpeed USB Developers Conference.[26]

USB 3.0 adds a SuperSpeed transfer mode, with associated backward compatible plugs,
receptacles, and cables. SuperSpeed plugs and receptacles are identified with a distinct logo and
blue inserts in standard format receptacles.

The SuperSpeed bus provides for a transfer mode at a nominal rate of 5.0 Gbit/s, in addition to
the three existing transfer modes. Its efficiency is dependent on a number of factors including
physical symbol encoding and link level overhead. At a 5 Gbit/s signaling rate with 8b/10b
encoding, each byte needs 10 bits to be transmitted, so the raw throughput is 500 MB/s. When
flow control, packet framing and protocol overhead are considered, it is realistic for 400 MB/s
(3.2 Gbit/s) or more to be delivered to an application.[18](4–19) Communication is full-duplex in
SuperSpeed transfer mode; earlier modes are half-duplex, arbitrated by the host.[27]

Low-power and high-power devices remain operational with this standard, but devices using
SuperSpeed can take advantage of increased available current of between 150 mA and 900 mA,
respectively.[18](9–9)

USB 3.1, released in July 2013 has two variants. The first one preserves USB 3.0's SuperSpeed
transfer mode and is labeled USB 3.1 Gen 1,[28][29] and the second version introduces a new
SuperSpeed+ transfer mode under the label of USB 3.1 Gen 2. SuperSpeed+ doubles the
maximum data signaling rate to 10 Gbit/s, while reducing line encoding overhead to just 3% by
changing the encoding scheme to 128b/132b.[28][30] The number of connectors used for USB 3.1
has also been reduced to two: USB-A and USB-C[citation needed].

USB 3.2, released in September 2017,[31] preserves existing USB 3.1 SuperSpeed and

SuperSpeed+ data modes but introduces two new SuperSpeed+ transfer modes over the USB-C
connector with data rates of 10 and 20 Gbit/s (1.25 and 2.5 GB/s). The increase in bandwidth is a
result of multi-lane operation over existing wires that were intended for flip-flop capabilities of
the USB-C connector.[32] USB 3.2 is also the first version to use the USB-C connector as the sole
connector[citation needed].

Current naming scheme[edit]

Starting with the USB 3.2 standard, USB-IF introduced a new naming scheme.[33] Contrary to
popular belief,[34][failed verification] there has been no renaming of older USB versions (3.1 simply
superseded 3.0 and 3.2 superseded 3.1). To help companies with branding of the different
transfer modes, USB-IF recommended branding the 5, 10, and 20 Gbit/s transfer modes as
SuperSpeed USB, SuperSpeed USB 10 Gbit/s, and SuperSpeed USB 20 Gbit/s, respectively:

Name USB-IF branding Transfer speed

USB 3.2 Gen 1 SuperSpeed USB 5 Gbit/s
USB 3.2 Gen 2 SuperSpeed USB 10 Gbit/s 10 Gbit/s
USB 3.2 Gen 2 x 2 SuperSpeed USB 20 Gbit/s 20 Gbit/s

USB4[edit]

The USB4 specification was released on 29 August 2019 by USB Implementers Forum.[35]

USB4 is based on the Thunderbolt 3 protocol specification.[36] It supports 40 Gbit/s throughput, is

compatible with Thunderbolt 3, and backwards compatible with USB 3.2 and USB 2.0.[37][38] The
architecture defines a method to share a single high-speed link with multiple end device types
dynamically that best serves the transfer of data by type and application.

The USB4 specification[39] states that following technologies shall be supported by USB4:

Mandatory for
Connection Remarks
host hub device
Contrary to other functions which
use the multiplexing of high-speed
USB 2.0 (480 Mbps) Yes Yes Yes
links, this one operates on its own
pair of wires.
USB 3 Gen 2x2 (20 Gbps) Yes Yes Yes A USB 3.0-labelled 5 Gbps (Gen
1x1) device will still be operated
by USB4 host or hub, as a USB 3.0
device. The said device
USB 3 Gen 3x2 (40 Gbps) No Yes No
requirement of Gen 2x2 applies
only to the newcomming USB4-
labelled devices.
DisplayPort Yes Yes No The specification assumes
DisplayPort version 1.4a. With its
data rate of 25.92 Gbps it will fit
easily into the 40Gbps throughput
of USB4 provided by Thunderbolt
3 technology.

The newly anounced DisplayPort

 2.0 will have data rate of 77.37
Gbps, which definitely won't fit
into the 40 Gbps bitstream of the
current USB4. However, for a
given USB-C port, while it will not
pass DisplayPort 2.0 in USB4
mode, it still may be able to do so
in DisplayPort Alternate Mode,
where USB4 circutry is
disconnected and the connection is
driven directly by DisplayPort
circutry.

The USB4 host does not

necessarily need to have a graphics
card with a DP output. It may as
well be a DisplayPort-input socket
for an external DisplayPort source.
A LAN-like connection between
Host-to-Host communications Yes Yes N/A
two peers.
The PCI Express function of USB4
is supposed to directly replace the
functionality of Thunderbolt
PCI Express No Yes No
version 1 thru 3, which carries the
PCI Express signals over a
DisplayPort connection
It's basically the PCI Express
functionality for Thunderbolt 3-
labelled devices related to the
Thunderbolt 3 No Yes No compatibility of the plug. Its
support by a given piece most
likely will be tied to the support of
PCI Express.

During CES 2020 Intel stated intention to use Thunderbolt 4 branding for USB4 pieces that
support all of the non-mandatory functionality.

Version history [edit]

Release versions[edit]

Name Release Maximum Note

 date transfer rate
USB November
? Pre-release
0.7 11, 1994
USB December
? Pre-release
0.8 1994
USB April 13, Full Speed
Pre-release
0.9 1995 (12 Mbit/s)
USB August
? Pre-release
0.99 1995
USB November
? Release Candidate
1.0-RC 1995
USB January 15, Full Speed
1.0 1996 (12 Mbit/s),
USB August
Low Speed
1.1 1998
(1.5 Mbit/s) [40]
USB High Speed
April 2000
2.0 (480 Mbit/s)
USB November Superspeed USB Also referred to as USB 3.1 Gen 1[28] and USB 3.2 Gen 1
3.0 2008 (5 Gbit/s) ×1
USB Superspeed+ USB Includes new USB 3.1 Gen 2,[28] also named Gen 2 × 1 in
July 2013
3.1 (10 Gbit/s) later specifications
Superspeed+ USB
USB August Includes new Gen 1 × 2 and Gen 2 × 2 multi-link
dual-lane
3.2 2017 modes[41][failed verification]
(20 Gbit/s)
Includes new Gen 3 × 1 and Gen 3 × 2 modes and
August introduces USB4 routing for tunnelling of USB3.x,
USB4 40 Gbit/s (2-lane)
2019 DisplayPort 1.4a and PCI Express traffic and host-to-
host transfers, based on the Thunderbolt 3 protocol

Power-related specifications[edit]

See also: USB hardware §  USB Power Delivery (USB PD)

Release Max.
Release name Note
date power
2007-03-
USB Battery Charging 1.0 5 V, ? A
08
2009-04-
USB Battery Charging 1.1 5 V, 1.8 A [42]

15
2010-12-
USB Battery Charging 1.2 5 V, 5 A [43]

07
USB Power Delivery revision 2012-07-
20 V, 5 A Using FSK protocol over bus power (VBUS)
1.0 (version 1.0) 05
USB Power Delivery revision 2014-03-
20 V, 5 A
1.0 (version 1.3) 11
2014-08-
USB Type-C rev1.0 5 V, 3 A New connector and cable specification
11
USB Power Delivery revision 2014-08- Using BMC protocol over communication
20 V, 5 A
2.0 (version 1.0) 11 channel (CC) on USB-C cables.
2015-04-
USB Type-C rev1.1 5 V, 3 A
03
USB Power Delivery revision 2015-05-
20 V, 5 A
2.0 (version 1.1) 07
2016-03-
USB Type-C rev1.2 5 V, 3 A
25
USB Power Delivery revision 2016-03-
20 V, 5 A
2.0 (version 1.2) 25
USB Power Delivery revision 2017-01-
20 V, 5 A
2.0 (version 1.3) 12
USB Power Delivery revision 2017-01-
20 V, 5 A
3.0 (version 1.1) 12
2017-07-
USB Type-C rev1.3 5 V, 3 A
14
USB Power Delivery revision 2018-06-
20 V, 5 A
3.0 (version 1.2) 21
2019-03-
USB Type-C rev1.4 5 V, 3 A
29
2019-08- Enabling USB4 over USB Type-C
USB Type-C rev2.0 5 V, 3 A
29 connectors and cables.
USB Power Delivery revision 2019-08-
20 V, 5 A [44]

3.0 (version 2.0) 29

System design[edit]
A USB system consists of a host with one or more downstream ports, and multiple peripherals,
forming a tiered-star topology. Additional USB hubs may be included, allowing up to five tiers.
A USB host may have multiple controllers, each with one or more ports. Up to 127 devices may
be connected to a single host controller.[45][18](8–29) USB devices are linked in series through hubs.
The hub built into the host controller is called the root hub.

A USB device may consist of several logical sub-devices that are referred to as device functions.
A composite device may provide several functions, for example, a webcam (video device
function) with a built-in microphone (audio device function). An alternative to this is a
compound device, in which the host assigns each logical device a distinct address and all logical
devices connect to a built-in hub that connects to the physical USB cable.
USB endpoints reside on the connected device: the channels to the host are referred to as pipes

USB device communication is based on pipes (logical channels). A pipe is a connection from the
host controller to a logical entity within a device, called an endpoint. Because pipes correspond
to endpoints, the terms are sometimes used interchangeably. Each USB device can have up to 32
endpoints (16 in and 16 out), though it is rare to have so many. Endpoints are defined and
numbered by the device during initialization (the period after physical connection called
"enumeration") and so are relatively permanent, whereas pipes may be opened and closed.

There are two types of pipe: stream and message.

 A message pipe is bi-directional and is used for control transfers. Message pipes are
typically used for short, simple commands to the device, and for status responses from
the device, used, for example, by the bus control pipe number 0.
 A stream pipe is a uni-directional pipe connected to a uni-directional endpoint that
transfers data using an isochronous,[46] interrupt, or bulk transfer:

Isochronous transfers
At some guaranteed data rate (for fixed-bandwidth streaming data) but with possible data
loss (e.g., realtime audio or video)
Interrupt transfers
Devices that need guaranteed quick responses (bounded latency) such as pointing
devices, mice, and keyboards
Bulk transfers
Large sporadic transfers using all remaining available bandwidth, but with no guarantees
on bandwidth or latency (e.g., file transfers)

When a host starts a data transfer, it sends a TOKEN packet containing an endpoint specified
with a tuple of (device_address, endpoint_number). If the transfer is from the host to the
endpoint, the host sends an OUT packet (a specialization of a TOKEN packet) with the desired
device address and endpoint number. If the data transfer is from the device to the host, the host
sends an IN packet instead. If the destination endpoint is a uni-directional endpoint whose
manufacturer's designated direction does not match the TOKEN packet (e.g. the manufacturer's
designated direction is IN while the TOKEN packet is an OUT packet), the TOKEN packet is
ignored. Otherwise, it is accepted and the data transaction can start. A bi-directional endpoint, on
the other hand, accepts both IN and OUT packets.

Two USB 3.0 Standard-A receptacles (left) and two USB 2.0 Standard-A receptacles (right) on a
computer's front panel

Endpoints are grouped into interfaces and each interface is associated with a single device
function. An exception to this is endpoint zero, which is used for device configuration and is not
associated with any interface. A single device function composed of independently controlled
interfaces is called a composite device. A composite device only has a single device address
because the host only assigns a device address to a function.

When a USB device is first connected to a USB host, the USB device enumeration process is
started. The enumeration starts by sending a reset signal to the USB device. The data rate of the
USB device is determined during the reset signaling. After reset, the USB device's information is
read by the host and the device is assigned a unique 7-bit address. If the device is supported by
the host, the device drivers needed for communicating with the device are loaded and the device
is set to a configured state. If the USB host is restarted, the enumeration process is repeated for
all connected devices.

The host controller directs traffic flow to devices, so no USB device can transfer any data on the
bus without an explicit request from the host controller. In USB 2.0, the host controller polls the
bus for traffic, usually in a round-robin fashion. The throughput of each USB port is determined
by the slower speed of either the USB port or the USB device connected to the port.

High-speed USB 2.0 hubs contain devices called transaction translators that convert between
high-speed USB 2.0 buses and full and low speed buses. There may be one translator per hub or
per port.

Because there are two separate controllers in each USB 3.0 host, USB 3.0 devices transmit and
receive at USB 3.0 data rates regardless of USB 2.0 or earlier devices connected to that host.
Operating data rates for earlier devices are set in the legacy manner.

Device classes[edit]
The functionality of a USB device is defined by a class code sent to a USB host. This allows the
host to load software modules for the device and to support new devices from different
manufacturers.
Device classes include:[47]

Class Usage Description Examples, or exception

Device class is unspecified, interface descriptors are
00h Device Unspecified[48]
used to determine needed drivers
01h Interface Audio Speaker, microphone, sound card, MIDI
Modem, Ethernet adapter, Wi-Fi adapter, RS-232
Communications and
02h Both serial adapter. Used together with class 0Ah (CDC-
CDC Control
Data, below)
Human interface device
03h Interface Keyboard, mouse, joystick
(HID)
Physical Interface Device
05h Interface Force feedback joystick
(PID)
06h Interface Image (PTP/MTP) Webcam, scanner
07h Interface Printer Laser printer, inkjet printer, CNC machine
Mass storage (MSC or USB flash drive, memory card reader, digital audio
08h Interface
UMS) player, digital camera, external drive
09h Device USB hub Full bandwidth hub
Used together with class 02h (Communications and
0Ah Interface CDC-Data
CDC Control, above)
0Bh Interface Smart Card USB smart card reader
0Dh Interface Content security Fingerprint reader
0Eh Interface Video Webcam
Personal healthcare
0Fh Interface Pulse monitor (watch)
device class (PHDC)
10h Interface Audio/Video (AV) Webcam, TV
11h Device Billboard Describes USB-C alternate modes supported by device
DCh Both Diagnostic Device USB compliance testing device
E0h Interface Wireless Controller Bluetooth adapter, Microsoft RNDIS
EFh Both Miscellaneous ActiveSync device
IrDA Bridge, Test & Measurement Class (USBTMC),
FEh Interface Application-specific [49]
USB DFU (Device Firmware Upgrade)[50]
FFh Both Vendor-specific Indicates that a device needs vendor-specific drivers

USB mass storage / USB drive[edit]

A flash drive, a typical USB mass-storage device

Circuit board from a USB 3.0 external 2.5-inch SATA HDD enclosure

See also: USB mass storage device class, Disk enclosure, and External hard disk drive

USB mass storage device class (MSC or UMS) standardizes connections to storage devices. At
first intended for magnetic and optical drives, it has been extended to support flash drives. It has
also been extended to support a wide variety of novel devices as many systems can be controlled
with the familiar metaphor of file manipulation within directories. The process of making a novel
device look like a familiar device is also known as extension. The ability to boot a write-locked
SD card with a USB adapter is particularly advantageous for maintaining the integrity and non-
corruptible, pristine state of the booting medium.

Though most personal computers since early 2005 can boot from USB mass storage devices,
USB is not intended as a primary bus for a computer's internal storage. However, USB has the
advantage of allowing hot-swapping, making it useful for mobile peripherals, including drives of
various kinds.

Several manufacturers offer external portable USB hard disk drives, or empty enclosures for disk
drives. These offer performance comparable to internal drives, limited by the current number and
types of attached USB devices, and by the upper limit of the USB interface. Other competing
standards for external drive connectivity include eSATA, ExpressCard, FireWire (IEEE 1394),
and most recently Thunderbolt.

Another use for USB mass storage devices is the portable execution of software applications
(such as web browsers and VoIP clients) with no need to install them on the host computer.[51][52]

Media Transfer Protocol[edit]

See also: Picture Transfer Protocol

Media Transfer Protocol (MTP) was designed by Microsoft to give higher-level access to a
device's filesystem than USB mass storage, at the level of files rather than disk blocks. It also has
optional DRM features. MTP was designed for use with portable media players, but it has since
been adopted as the primary storage access protocol of the Android operating system from the
version 4.1 Jelly Bean as well as Windows Phone 8 (Windows Phone 7 devices had used the
Zune protocol – an evolution of MTP). The primary reason for this is that MTP does not require
exclusive access to the storage device the way UMS does, alleviating potential problems should
an Android program request the storage while it is attached to a computer. The main drawback is
that MTP is not as well supported outside of Windows operating systems.

Human interface devices[edit]

Main article: USB human interface device class

Joysticks, keypads, tablets and other human-interface devices (HIDs) are also progressively[when?]
migrating from MIDI, and PC game port connectors to USB.[citation needed]

USB mice and keyboards can usually be used with older computers that have PS/2 connectors
with the aid of a small USB-to-PS/2 adapter. For mice and keyboards with dual-protocol support,
an adaptor that contains no logic circuitry may be used: the USB hardware in the keyboard or
mouse is designed to detect whether it is connected to a USB or PS/2 port, and communicate
using the appropriate protocol. Converters also exist that connect PS/2 keyboards and mice
(usually one of each) to a USB port.[53] These devices present two HID endpoints to the system
and use a microcontroller to perform bidirectional data translation between the two standards.

Device Firmware Upgrade[edit]

Device Firmware Upgrade (DFU) is a vendor- and device-independent mechanism for upgrading
the firmware of USB devices with improved versions provided by their manufacturers, offering
(for example) a way to deploy firmware bug fixes. During the firmware upgrade operation, USB
devices change their operating mode effectively becoming a PROM programmer. Any class of
USB device can implement this capability by following the official DFU specifications.[50][54][55]

DFU can also give the user the freedom to flash USB Devices with alternative firmware. One
consequence of this is that USB devices after being re-flashed may act as various unexpected
device types. For example, a USB Device intended by the seller to be just a Flash drive can
"spoof" an input device like a keyboard; see BadUSB.[56]

Audio streaming[edit]

The USB Device Working Group has laid out specifications for audio streaming, and specific
standards have been developed and implemented for audio class uses, such as microphones,
speakers, headsets, telephones, musical instruments, etc. The DWG has published three versions
of audio device specifications:[57][58] Audio 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0, referred to as "UAC"[59] or "ADC".[60]

UAC 2.0 introduced support for High Speed USB (in addition to Full Speed), allowing greater
bandwidth for multi-channel interfaces, higher sample rates,[61] lower inherent latency,[62][59] and 8×
improvement in timing resolution in synchronous and adaptive modes.[59] UAC2 also introduces
the concept of clock domains, which provides information to the host about which input and
output terminals derive their clocks from the same source, as well as improved support for audio
encodings like DSD, audio effects, channel clustering, user controls, and device descriptions.[59][63]

UAC 3.0 primarily introduces improvements for portable devices, such as reduced power usage
by bursting the data and staying in low power mode more often, and power domains for different
components of the device, allowing them to be shut down when not in use.[64]

UAC 1.0 devices are still common, however, due to their cross-platform driverless compatibility,
[61]
and also partly due to Microsoft's failure to implement UAC 2.0 for over a decade after its
publication, having finally added support to Windows 10 through the Creators Update on 20
March 2017.[65][66][63] UAC 2.0 is also supported by MacOS, iOS, and Linux,[59] however Android
also only implements a subset of UAC 1.0.[67]

USB provides three isochronous (fixed-bandwidth) synchronization types,[68] all of which are
used by audio devices:[69]

 Asynchronous – The ADC or DAC are not synced to the host computer's clock at all,
operating off a free-running clock local to the device.
 Synchronous – The device's clock is synced to the USB start-of-frame (SOF) or Bus
Interval signals. For instance, this can require syncing an 11.2896 MHz clock to a 1 kHz
SOF signal, a large frequency multiplication.[70][71]
 Adaptive – The device's clock is synced to the amount of data sent per frame by the
host[72]

While the USB spec originally described asynchronous mode being used in "low cost speakers"
and adaptive mode in "high-end digital speakers",[73] the opposite perception exists in the hi-fi
world, where asynchronous mode is advertised as a feature, and adaptive/synchronous modes
have a bad reputation.[74][75][67] In reality, all the types can be high-quality or low-quality, depending
on the quality of their engineering and the application.[71][59][76] Asynchronous has the benefit of
being untied from the computer's clock, but the disadvantage of requiring sample rate conversion
when combining multiple sources.

Connectors[edit]
Main article: USB hardware §  Connectors

The connectors the USB committee specifies support a number of USB's underlying goals, and
reflect lessons learned from the many connectors the computer industry has used. The female
connector mounted on the host or device is called the receptacle, and the male connector
attached to the cable is called the plug.[18](2–5 – 2–6) The official USB specification documents also
periodically define the term male to represent the plug, and female to represent the receptacle.[77]
The standard USB Type-A plug. This is one of many types of USB connector.

By design, it is difficult to insert a USB plug into its receptacle incorrectly. The USB
specification requires that the cable plug and receptacle be marked so the user can recognize the
proper orientation.[18] The USB-C plug however is reversible. USB cables and small USB devices
are held in place by the gripping force from the receptacle, with no screws, clips, or thumb-turns
as some connectors use.

The different A and B plugs prevent accidentally connecting two power sources. However, some
of this directed topology is lost with the advent of multi-purpose USB connections (such as USB
On-The-Go in smartphones, and USB-powered Wi-Fi routers), which require A-to-A, B-to-B,
and sometimes Y/splitter cables.

USB connector types multiplied as the specification progressed. The original USB specification
detailed standard-A and standard-B plugs and receptacles. The connectors were different so that
users could not connect one computer receptacle to another. The data pins in the standard plugs
are recessed compared to the power pins, so that the device can power up before establishing a
data connection. Some devices operate in different modes depending on whether the data
connection is made. Charging docks supply power and do not include a host device or data pins,
allowing any capable USB device to charge or operate from a standard USB cable. Charging
cables provide power connections, but not data. In a charge-only cable, the data wires are shorted
at the device end, otherwise the device may reject the charger as unsuitable.

Cabling[edit]

A variety of USB cables for sale in Hong Kong

Main article: USB hardware §  Cabling
The USB 1.1 standard specifies that a standard cable can have a maximum length of 5 meters
(16 ft 5 in) with devices operating at full speed (12 Mbit/s), and a maximum length of 3 meters
(9 ft 10 in) with devices operating at low speed (1.5 Mbit/s).[78][79][80]

USB 2.0 provides for a maximum cable length of 5 meters (16 ft 5 in) for devices running at high
speed (480 Mbit/s).[80]

The USB 3.0 standard does not directly specify a maximum cable length, requiring only that all
cables meet an electrical specification: for copper cabling with AWG 26 wires the maximum
practical length is 3 meters (9 ft 10 in).[81]

Power[edit]
Main article: USB hardware §  Power

USB supplies power at 5 V ± 5% to power USB downstream devices.

Low-power and high-power devices[edit]

Low-power devices may draw at most 1 unit load (1 unit load is 100 mA for USB devices up to
USB 2.0, while USB 3.0 defines a unit load as 150 mA), and all devices must act as low-power
devices when starting out as unconfigured.

High-power devices (such as a typical 2.5-inch USB hard disc drive) draw at least 1 unit load
and at most 5 unit loads (5x100mA = 500 mA) for devices up to USB 2.0 or 6 unit loads
(6x150mA= 900 mA) for SuperSpeed (USB 3.0 and up) devices.

USB power standards

Specification Current Voltage Power (max.)

Low-power device 100 mA 5 V[a] 0.50 W

Low-power SuperSpeed (USB 3.0) device 150 mA 5 V[a] 0.75 W

High-power device 500 mA[b] 5 V 2.5 W

High-power SuperSpeed (USB 3.0) device 900 mA[c] 5 V 4.5 W

Multi-lane SuperSpeed (USB 3.2 Gen 2) device 1.5 A[d] 5 V 7.5 W

Battery Charging (BC) 1.1 1.5 A 5 V 7.5 W

Battery Charging (BC) 1.2 5 A 5 V 25 W

 1.5 A 5 V 7.5 W
USB-C
3 A 5 V 15 W

Power Delivery 1.0 Micro-USB 3 A 20 V 60 W

Power Delivery 1.0 Type-A/B 5 A 20 V 100 W

Power Delivery 2.0/3.0 Type-C[e] 5 A 20 V 100 W

1. ^ Jump up to: a b The VBUS supply from a low-powered hub port may drop to 4.40 V.
2. ^ Up to five unit loads; with non-SuperSpeed devices, one unit load is 100 mA.
3. ^ Up to six unit loads; with SuperSpeed devices, one unit load is 150 mA.
4. ^ Up to six unit loads; with multi-lane devices, one unit load is 250 mA.
5. ^ Requires active PD 5 A cable.

To recognize battery charging mode, a dedicated charging port places a resistance not exceeding
200 Ω across the D+ and D− terminals.[82]

In addition to standard USB, there is a proprietary high-powered system known as PoweredUSB,

developed in the 1990s, and mainly used in point-of-sale terminals such as cash registers.

Signaling[edit]
Main article: USB (Communications) §  Signaling (USB PHY)

Electrical specification[edit]

USB signals are transmitted using differential signaling on a twisted-pair data cable with 90 Ω ±
15% characteristic impedance.[83]

 Low-speed (LS) and Full-speed (FS) modes use a single data pair, labelled D+ and D−,
in half-duplex. Transmitted signal levels are 0.0–0.3 V for logical low, and 2.8–3.6 V for
logical high level. The signal lines are not terminated.
 High-speed (HS) mode uses the same wire pair, but with different electrical conventions.
Lower signal voltages of −10 to 10 mV for low and 360 to 440 mV for logical high level,
and termination of 45 Ω to ground or 90 Ω differential to match the data cable
impedance.
 SuperSpeed (SS) adds two additional pairs of shielded twisted wire (and new, mostly
compatible expanded connectors). These are dedicated to full-duplex SuperSpeed
operation. The SuperSpeed link operates independently from USB 2.0 channel, and takes
a precedence on connection. Link configuration is performed using LFPS (Low
 Frequency Periodic Signalling, approximately at 20 MHz frequency), and electrical
features include voltage de-emphasis at transmitter side, and adaptive linear equalization
on receiver side in order to combat electrical losses in transmission lines, and thus the
link introduces the concept of "link training".
 SuperSpeed+ (SS+) uses increased data rate (Gen 2×1 mode) and/or the additional lane
in the USB-C connector (Gen 1×2 and Gen 2×2 mode).

A USB connection is always between a host or hub at the A connector end, and a device or hub's
"upstream" port at the other end.

Protocol layer[edit]
Main article: USB (Communications) §  Protocol layer

During USB communication, data is transmitted as packets. Initially, all packets are sent from
the host via the root hub, and possibly more hubs, to devices. Some of those packets direct a
device to send some packets in reply.

Transactions[edit]
Main article: USB (Communications) §  Transaction

The basic transactions of USB are:

 OUT transaction
 IN transaction
 SETUP transaction
 Control transfer exchange

Related standards[edit]

The Wireless USB logo

The USB Implementers Forum is working on a wireless networking standard based on the USB
protocol.[when?] Wireless USB is a cable-replacement technology, and uses ultra-wideband wireless
technology for data rates of up to 480 Mbit/s.
InterChip USB is a chip-to-chip variant that eliminates the conventional transceivers found in
normal USB. The HSIC physical layer uses about 50% less power and 75% less board area
compared to USB 2.0.[84]

Comparisons with other connection methods[edit]

FireWire[edit]

At first, USB was considered a complement to IEEE 1394 (FireWire) technology, which was
designed as a high-bandwidth serial bus that efficiently interconnects peripherals such as disk
drives, audio interfaces, and video equipment. In the initial design, USB operated at a far lower
data rate and used less sophisticated hardware. It was suitable for small peripherals such as
keyboards and pointing devices.

The most significant technical differences between FireWire and USB include:

 USB networks use a tiered-star topology, while IEEE 1394 networks use a tree topology.
 USB 1.0, 1.1, and 2.0 use a "speak-when-spoken-to" protocol, meaning that each
peripheral communicates with the host when the host specifically requests it to
communicate. USB 3.0 allows for device-initiated communications towards the host. A
FireWire device can communicate with any other node at any time, subject to network
conditions.
 A USB network relies on a single host at the top of the tree to control the network. All
communications are between the host and one peripheral. In a FireWire network, any
capable node can control the network.
 USB runs with a 5 V power line, while FireWire in current implementations supplies
12 V and theoretically can supply up to 30 V.
 Standard USB hub ports can provide from the typical 500 mA/2.5 W of current, only
100 mA from non-hub ports. USB 3.0 and USB On-The-Go supply 1.8 A/9.0 W (for
dedicated battery charging, 1.5 A/7.5 W full bandwidth or 900 mA/4.5 W high
bandwidth), while FireWire can in theory supply up to 60 watts of power, although 10 to
20 watts is more typical.

These and other differences reflect the differing design goals of the two buses: USB was
designed for simplicity and low cost, while FireWire was designed for high performance,
particularly in time-sensitive applications such as audio and video. Although similar in
theoretical maximum transfer rate, FireWire 400 is faster than USB 2.0 high-bandwidth in real-
use,[85] especially in high-bandwidth use such as external hard drives.[86][87][88][89] The newer
FireWire 800 standard is twice as fast as FireWire 400 and faster than USB 2.0 high-bandwidth
both theoretically and practically.[90] However, FireWire's speed advantages rely on low-level
techniques such as direct memory access (DMA), which in turn have created opportunities for
security exploits such as the DMA attack.
The chipset and drivers used to implement USB and FireWire have a crucial impact on how
much of the bandwidth prescribed by the specification is achieved in the real world, along with
compatibility with peripherals.[91]

Ethernet[edit]

The IEEE 802.3af, at, and bt Power over Ethernet (PoE) standards specify more elaborate power
negotiation schemes than powered USB. They operate at 48 V DC and can supply more power
(up to 12.95 W for af, 25.5 W for at aka PoE+, 71 W for bt aka 4PPoE) over a cable up to
100 meters compared to USB 2.0, which provides 2.5 W with a maximum cable length of
5 meters. This has made PoE popular for VoIP telephones, security cameras, wireless access
points, and other networked devices within buildings. However, USB is cheaper than PoE
provided that the distance is short and power demand is low.

Ethernet standards require electrical isolation between the networked device (computer, phone,
etc.) and the network cable up to 1500 V AC or 2250 V DC for 60 seconds.[92] USB has no such
requirement as it was designed for peripherals closely associated with a host computer, and in
fact it connects the peripheral and host grounds. This gives Ethernet a significant safety
advantage over USB with peripherals such as cable and DSL modems connected to external
wiring that can assume hazardous voltages under certain fault conditions.[93]

MIDI[edit]

The USB Device Class Definition for MIDI Devices allows Music Instrument Digital Interface
(MIDI) music data to be sent over USB.[94] The MIDI capability is extended to allow up to sixteen
simultaneous virtual MIDI cables, each of which can carry the usual MIDI sixteen channels and
clocks.

USB is competitive for low-cost and physically adjacent devices. However, Power over Ethernet
and the MIDI plug standard have an advantage in high-end devices that may have long cables.
USB can cause ground loop problems between equipment, because it connects ground references
on both transceivers. By contrast, the MIDI plug standard and Ethernet have built-in isolation to
500V or more.

eSATA/eSATAp[edit]

The eSATA connector is a more robust SATA connector, intended for connection to external hard
drives and SSDs. eSATA's transfer rate (up to 6 Gbit/s) is similar to that of USB 3.0 (up to
5 Gbit/s on current devices; 10 Gbit/s speeds via USB 3.1, announced on 31 July 2013). A device
connected by eSATA appears as an ordinary SATA device, giving both full performance and full
compatibility associated with internal drives.

eSATA does not supply power to external devices. This is an increasing disadvantage compared
to USB. Even though USB 3.0's 4.5 W is sometimes insufficient to power external hard drives,
technology is advancing and external drives gradually need less power, diminishing the eSATA
advantage. eSATAp (power over eSATA; aka ESATA/USB) is a connector introduced in 2009
that supplies power to attached devices using a new, backward compatible, connector. On a
notebook eSATAp usually supplies only 5 V to power a 2.5-inch HDD/SSD; on a desktop
workstation it can additionally supply 12 V to power larger devices including 3.5-inch
HDD/SSD and 5.25-inch optical drives.

eSATAp support can be added to a desktop machine in the form of a bracket connecting the
motherboard SATA, power, and USB resources.

eSATA, like USB, supports hot plugging, although this might be limited by OS drivers and
device firmware.

Thunderbolt[edit]

Thunderbolt combines PCI Express and Mini DisplayPort into a new serial data interface.
Original Thunderbolt implementations have two channels, each with a transfer speed of
10 Gbit/s, resulting in an aggregate unidirectional bandwidth of 20 Gbit/s.[95]

Thunderbolt 2 uses link aggregation to combine the two 10 Gbit/s channels into one bidirectional
20 Gbit/s channel.

Thunderbolt 3 uses the USB-C connector.[96][97][98] Thunderbolt 3 has two physical 20 Gbit/s bi-
directional channels, aggregated to appear as a single logical 40 Gbit/s bi-directional channel.
Thunderbolt 3 controllers can incorporate a USB 3.1 Gen 2 controller to provide compatibility
with USB devices. They are also capable of providing DisplayPort alternate mode over the USB-
C connector, making a Thunderbolt 3 port a superset of a USB 3.1 Gen 2 port with DisplayPort
alternate mode.

The Thunderbolt 3 protocol has been adopted into the USB4 standard after being released by
Intel Corporation. If implemented correctly, USB4 ports should function identically to
Thunderbolt 3 ports in most circumstances. However, USB4 will provide backwards
compatibility with USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 devices. No Thunderbolt 3 controller has been built to
provide USB 3.2 Gen 2×2 support, as of the Titan Ridge (2019) Thunderbolt controllers. No
information pertaining to VirtualLink alternate mode compatibility with USB4 (and so
Thunderbolt 3 alternate mode) has been published, as of April 2019.

Interoperability[edit]
Main article: USB adapter

Various protocol converters are available that convert USB data signals to and from other
communications standards.
Security threats[edit]
 BadUSB[54], see also USB_flash_drive#BadUSB
 Intel cpus, from Skylake, allow to take control over them from USB 3.0.[99][100][101]
 USB Killer
 USB flash drives were dangerous for first versions of Windows XP because they were
configured by default to execute program shown in Autorun.inf immediately after
plugging flash drive in, malware could be automatically activated with usage of that.[citation
needed]

See also[edit]

 Electronics portal

 DockPort
 Easy Transfer Cable
 Extensible Host Controller Interface (XHCI)
 LIO Target
 List of device bit rates#Peripheral
 Media Transfer Protocol
 Mobile High-Definition Link
 WebUSB
 USB-C

References[edit]
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is fully 12 mm in width by 4.5 mm in height with no deviations
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In applications where streaming latency is important, UAC2 offers up to an 8x reduction over UAC1. ...
Each clocking method has pros and cons and best-fit applications.
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61. ^ Jump up to: a b Kars, Vincent (May 2011). "USB". The Well-Tempered Computer. Retrieved 7 May
2018. All operating systems (Win, OSX, and Linux) support USB Audio Class 1 natively. This means you
don’t need to install drivers, it is plug&play.
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Speed USB has a much higher intrinsic latency of 2ms
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PCM 24 bit / 384 kHz and DSD (DoP) up through DSD256.
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65. ^ "Announcing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 14931 for PC". Windows Experience Blog.
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This is an early version of the driver that does not have all features enabled
66. ^ Plummer, Gregg (20 September 2017). "Ampliozone: USB Audio Class 2.0 Support in Windows
10, FINALLY!!!!". Ampliozone. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
67. ^ Jump up to: a b "USB Digital Audio". Android Open Source Project. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
Synchronous sub-mode is not commonly used with audio because both host and peripheral are at the mercy
of the USB clock.
68. ^ "32-bit Atmel Microcontroller Application Note" (PDF). Atmel Corporation. 2011. Archived
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69. ^ "PCM2906C datasheet" (PDF). Texas Instruments. November 2011. The PCM2906C employs
SpAct™ architecture, TI's unique system that recovers the audio clock from USB packet data.
70. ^ Castor-Perry, Kendall (October 2010). "Designing Modern USB Audio Systems". Cypress
Semiconductor.
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for USB Audio Systems". Cypress Semiconductor. Early USB replay interfaces used synchronous mode but
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primarily due to deficiencies of clocking implementation rather than inherent shortcomings of the
approach.
72. ^ Kondoh, Hitoshi (20 February 2002). "The D/A diaries: A personal memoir of engineering
heartache and triumph" (PDF). The fact that there is no clock line within the USB cable leads to a thinner
cable which is an advantage. But, no matter how good the crystal oscillators are at the send and receive
ends, there will always be some difference between the two...
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Synchronous USB DAC is the lowest quality of the three ... Adaptive ... means that there is no continuous,
accurate master clock in the DAC, which causes jitter in the audio stream. ... Asynchronous – this is the
most complex to implement but it is a huge improvement on the other types.
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2018. Synchronous is not used in a quality DAC as it is very jittery. ... asynchronous is the better of these
modes.
76. ^ "Low-Jitter USB: Dan Lavry, Michael Goodman, Adaptive, Asynchronous". Headphone
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your left hand. In fact, if you know what you are doing, you will feed yourself with either hand. The issue is
really about good engineering practices.
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Further reading[edit]
 Axelson, Jan (1 September 2006). USB Mass Storage: Designing and Programming
Devices and Embedded Hosts (1st ed.). Lakeview Research. ISBN 978-1-931-44804-8.
  ——— (1 December 2007). Serial Port Complete: COM Ports, USB Virtual COM Ports,
and Ports for Embedded Systems (2nd ed.). Lakeview Research. ISBN 978-1-931-44806-
2.
 ——— (2015). USB Complete: The Developer's Guide (5th ed.). Lakeview Research.
ISBN 978-1-931448-28-4.
 Hyde, John (February 2001). USB Design by Example: A Practical Guide to Building
I/O Devices (2nd ed.). Intel Press. ISBN 978-0-970-28465-5.
 "Debugging USB 2.0 for Compliance: It's Not Just a Digital World" (PDF). Keysight
Technologies. Technologies Application Note. Keysight (1382–3).

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Universal Serial Bus.

The Wikibook Serial Programming:USB Technical Manual has a page on the topic of:
USB connectors

 "USB Implementers Forum".

 USB Document Library (USB 3.2, USB 2.0, Wireless USB, USB-C, USB Power
Delivery)
 "Universal Host Controller Interface (UHCI)" (PDF). Intel.
 "USB 3.0 Standard-A, Standard-B, Powered-B connectors". Pinouts guide.
 "Characterization and compliance test". Agilent.
 Muller, Henk. "How To Create And Program USB Devices," Electronic Design, July
2012
 An Analysis of Throughput Characteristics of Universal Serial Bus, June 1996, by John
Garney
 The unlikely origins of USB, the port that changed everything - Oral history
 USB 2.0 Protocol Engine, October 2010, by Razi Hershenhoren and Omer Reznik
 IEC 62680 (Universal Serial Bus interfaces for data and power):
o IEC 62680-1.1:2015 - Part 1-1: Common components - USB Battery Charging
Specification, Revision 1.2
o IEC 62680-1-2:2018 - Part 1-2: Common components - USB Power Delivery
specification
o IEC 62680-1-3:2018 - Part 1-3: Common components - USB Type-C™ Cable and
Connector Specification
o IEC 62680-1-4:2018 - Part 1-4: Common components - USB Type-C™
Authentication Specification
o IEC 62680-2-1:2015 - Part 2-1: Universal Serial Bus Specification, Revision 2.0
o IEC 62680-2-2:2015 - Part 2-2: Micro-USB Cables and Connectors Specification,
Revision 1.01
 o IEC 62680-2-3:2015 - Part 2-3: Universal Serial Bus Cables and Connectors
Class Document Revision 2.0
o IEC 62680-3-1:2017 - Part 3-1: Universal Serial Bus 3.1 Specification

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1. When referring to a physical device, a hardware port or peripheral port is a hole or connection found
on the front or back of a computer. Ports allow computers to access external devices such as printers.
Below is a short listing of the different computer ports you may find on a computer. The picture shows
an example of a type of port on the back of a computer.

Computer port examples

AT port (old keyboard port)

Display Port

DVI port

Firewire port (IEEE-1394)

Gamepad / Joystick port

HDMI port

LAN or network port (RJ-45)

LPT port (printer port)

Modem or phone port (RJ-11)

PS/2 port (keyboard port and mouse port)

Serial port (DB9)

USB port

VGA port

Tip
You can add more ports to a computer by installing an expansion card into the computer. For example, if
your desktop computer did not have a FireWire port you can add an expansion card with a FireWire port.

Related pages

See our connection page for a full list of internal and external ports.

The difference between a connector, jack, plug, and port.

2. In addition to the hardware port mentioned above, a hardware port or port may also refer to a
computer memory I/O port. See our I/O port definition for further information on this term.

3. A port is a term used to describe the process of taking a program that has been written for specific
operating systems and moving it to another operating system. For example, taking a program written for
Microsoft Windows and moving it to Linux.

4. When referring to a network or the Internet, a software or network port is a location where
information is sent. For example, port 80 is the http network port. A listing of commonly known and used
ports can also be found on the below listing. Users running Microsoft Windows can utilize the netstat
command to view currently active connections that include ports currently being used.

Users who want to block ports on their computer or network can use a software or hardware firewall. If
you cannot get access to a particular port it's likely that a firewall is already present on the Network or
other network settings set by the administrators have been set up.

Port Protocol Description

0 TCP, UDP Reserved (technically illegal to use)

1 TCP, UDP TCP Port Service Multiplexer.

5 TCP, UDP Remote Job Entry.

7 TCP, UDP ECHO

9 TCP, UDP Discard - RFC 4340 & 4960

12 TCP Dark Ages of Camelot game.

13 TCP, UDP Daytime - RFC 867

14 [reserved] [currently unassigned]

17 TCP, UDP Quote of the day.

18 TCP, UDP Message Send Protocol.

19 TCP, UDP Character Generator (Chargen) - RFC 864

20 TCP, UDP FTP - Data.

21 TCP, UDP FTP - Control.

22 UDP PCAnywhere.
22 TCP, UDP SSH Remote Login Protocol.

23 UDP Dungeon Siege II game.

23 TCP, UDP Telnet

24 TCP, UDP Private e-mail system.

25 TCP, UDP SMTP port for sending e-mail, Final Fantasy XI game.

26 TCP RSFTP

26 UDP Dungeon Siege II game.

26 UDP Dungeon Siege II game.

27 TCP, UDP NSW User System FE.

30 TCP, UDP Battlefield 1942, Ghost Recon 2, Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, Splinter Cell:
Pandora Tomorrow.

32 [currently unassigned]

33 TCP, UDP Display Support Protocol.

35 TCP, UDP Private print server.

37 TCP, UDP Time - RFC 868

38 TCP, UDP Route Access Protocol

39 UDP Resource Location Protocol

40 TCP Midnight Commander (sometimes).

42 TCP City of Heroes game.

42 TCP, UDP Nameserv (hostname server); WINS (Windows Internet Naming Service).

43 TCP, UDP Whois

47 TCP, UDP NI FTP

48 TCP, UDP Default Audit Daemon.

49 TCP, UDP TACACS (Login Host Protocol).

50 TCP Dark Ages of Camelot game, Vodafone Sure Signal.

50 TCP, UDP Remote Mail Checking Protocol.

51 TCP, UDP IMP Logical Address Maintenance.

52 TCP, UDP XNS (Xerox Network Services) Time Protocol.

53 TCP Socom, Socom 2, Twisted Metal Black Online.

53 UDP Lineage II.

53 TCP, UDP DNS (Domain Name Service)

54 TCP, UDP XNS (Xerox Network Services) clearinghouse.

57 TCP, UDP Private terminal access.

58 TCP, UDP XNS mail.

59 TCP, UDP Private file service.

60 [currently unassigned]

63 TCP, UDP whois++

64 TCP, UDP CI (communications integrator).

65 TCP, UDP TACACS-Database Service.

66 TCP, UDP Oracle SQL*NET.

67 UDP Apple NetBoot.

67 TCP, UDP Bootstrap Protocol Server, DHCP

68 UDP Apple NetBoot.

68 TCP, UDP Bootstrap Protocol Client, DHCP

69 TCP, UDP TFTP (Trivial File Transfer Protocol)

70 TCP, UDP Gopher

75 TCP, UDP Private dial out service.

79 TCP, UDP Finger

80 TCP Age of Empires III, Battlefield 2, Battlefield 2142, Call of Duty: World at War,
Command & Conquer Generals/Red Alert 3/Zero Hour, Guild Wars, Lineage II,
Need for Speed Carbon/Hot Pursuit 2/Most Wanted, Rainbow Six 3 Raven
Shield/Lockdown/Vegas, Worms 4: Mayhem and others.

80 TCP, UDP HTTP

81 TCP HTTP

81 TCP, UDP HOSTS2 Name Server.

82 TCP, UDP XFER Utility.

84 TCP, UDP Common Trace Facility.

87 TCP, UDP Any private terminal link.

88 UDP Xbox Live 360; NCAA 07 Football game.

88 TCP, UDP Kerberos

89 TCP, UDP SU/MIT Telnet Gateway.

90 TCP, UDP DNSIX (DoD Network Security for Information Exchange) security attribute token
map.
92 TCP, UDP Network Printing Protocol.

93 TCP, UDP Device Control Protocol.

95 TCP, UDP SUPDUP

98 TCP linuxconf.

98 TCP, UDP TAC news.

103 TCP, UDP Genesis Point-to-Point Trans Net; X.400 e-mail.

106 TCP, UDP 3COM-TSMUX.

107 TCP, UDP Remote Telnet Service.

108 TCP, UDP SNA Gateway Access Server.

109 TCP, UDP POP2 (Post Office Protocol version 2).

110 TCP, UDP POP3 (Post Office Protocol version 3).

113 TCP, UDP IDENT Authentication Service.

115 TCP, UDP SFTP (Simple File Transfer Protocol).

118 TCP, UDP SQL services.

119 TCP, UDP NNTP (Network News Transfer Protocol).

120 TCP, UDP CFDPTKT.

123 UDP NTP (Network Time Protocol).

130 TCP, UDP CISCO FNATIVE.

131 TCP, UDP CISCO TNATIVE.

132 TCP, UDP CISCO SYSMAINT.

135 TCP, UDP Blaster worm.

137 TCP, UDP NETBIOS name service.

138 TCP, UDP NETBIOS datagram service.

139 TCP, UDP NETBIOS session service.

143 TCP, UDP IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol).

149 TCP, UDP AED 512 emulation service.

150 TCP, UDP SQL-NET.

151 TCP, UDP HEMS.

152 TCP, UDP BFTP (Background File Transfer Program).

153 TCP, UDP SGMP (Simple Gateway Monitoring Protocol).

154 TCP, UDP NETSC.

156 TCP, UDP SQL service.

158 TCP, UDP PCMail server.

161 TCP, UDP SNMP (Simple Net Management Protocol)

168 TCP, UDP RSVD.

179 TCP, UDP BGP (Border Gateway Protocol)

190 TCP, UDP Gateway Access Control Protocol.

200 TCP, UDP IBM System Resource Controller.

201 TCP, UDP AppleTalk Routing Maintenance.

202 TCP, UDP AppleTalk Name binding.

204 TCP, UDP AppleTalk Echo.

206 TCP, UDP AppleTalk Zone information.

213 TCP, UDP IPX

217 TCP, UDP dBase Unix.

219 TCP, UDP Unisys ARP.

220 TCP, UDP IMAP (Interactive Mail Access Protocol) v3

256 TCP, UDP RAP.

258 TCP, UDP Yak Winsock Personal Chat.

263 TCP, UDP HDAP.

264 TCP, UDP BGMP (Border Gateway Multicast Protocol).

280 TCP, UDP HTTP-mgmt.

315 TCP, UDP DPSI.

321 TCP, UDP PIP

349 TCP, UDP mftp.

363 TCP, UDP RSVP tunnel.

366 TCP, UDP ODMR (On-Demand Mail Relay).

376 TCP, UDP Amiga Envoy Network Inquiry Protocol.

377 TCP, UDP NEC Corporation.

378 TCP, UDP NEC Corporation.

384 TCP, UDP A remote network server system.

385 TCP, UDP IBM application.

387 TCP, UDP AppleTalk Update-Based Routing Protocol.

389 TCP Microsoft NetMeeting 2.0 to 3.01

389 TCP, UDP LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol).

391 TCP, UDP SynOptics SNMP Relay Port.

396 TCP, UDP Novell Netware over IP.

397 TCP, UDP MPTN (Multi Protocol Trans. Net).

402 TCP, UDP Genie Protocol.

406 TCP, UDP IMSP (Interactive Mail Support Protocol).

413 TCP, UDP SMSP (Storage Management Services Protocol).

420 TCP, UDP SMPTE.

427 TCP, UDP SLP (Service Location Protocol).

430 TCP, UDP UTMPSD.

431 TCP, UDP UTMPCD.

433 TCP, UDP NNSP, part of Network News Transfer Protocol

443 TCP, UDP HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol over TL/SSL)

443 TCP Playstation network games, Battlefield 2142, Call of Duty: World at War, Medal
 of Honor: Rising Sun, Socom, Socom 2

443 UDP Google Talk and Final Fantasy XI game.

444 TCP, UDP SNPP (Simple Network Paging Protocol).

445 TCP, UDP Microsoft DS.

458 TCP, UDP Apple QuickTime.

464 TCP, UDP Kerberos (set and change password).

465 TCP Playstation Network, SCEA Game Servers.

465 UDP IGMP over UDP for SSM.

465 TCP, UDP SMTP protocol over TLS/SSL

511 TCP, UDP PassGo.

514 UDP Syslog

515 TCP, UDP Printer spooler.

519 TCP, UDP Unix time.

520 TCP efs, extended file name server.

520 UDP RIP (Routing Information Protocol).

525 TCP, UDP Time server.

530 TCP, UDP RPC (Remote Procedure Call)

531 TCP, UDP Chat.

533 TCP, UDP Emergency broadcasts.

545 TCP Kerberos encrypted remote shell.

545 TCP, UDP Apple Quick Time Server.

546 TCP, UDP DHCP v6 Client.

547 TCP, UDP DHCP v6 Server.

548 TCP AFP (Apple Filing Protocol) over TCP

554 TCP, UDP RTSP (Real Time Streaming Protocol)

555 TCP Used by trojans and hackers to exploit vulnerabilities.

563 TCP, UDP NNTPS (NNTP protocol over TSL/SSL) and SNEWS.

565 TCP, UDP whoami.

568 TCP, UDP Microsoft shuttle.

569 UDP Delta Force II game.

584 TCP, UDP Key Server.

585 TCP, UDP IMAP4+SSL (de-registered on April 26, 2006)

587 TCP SMTP

587 TCP, UDP Submission - RFC 4409

619 TCP, UDP Compaq EVM, Digital EVM.

636 TCP, UDP LDAPS (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol over TLS/SSL)

666 TCP, UDP Doom Id Software.

687 TCP, UDP asipregistry.

711 TCP, UDP Cisco TDP

799 TCP ControlIT.

808 TCP Microsoft Net.TCP Port Sharing Service.

902 TCP Self documenting Telnet Door, VMware Server Console, Ideafarm Chat, ISS
RealSecure Sensore.
989 TCP, UDP FTP protocol, data, over TLS/SSL

990 TCP, UDP FTP protocol, control, over TLS/SSL

992 TCP, UDP Telnet protocol over TLS/SSL

993 TCP, UDP IMAP 4 protocol over TLS/SSL

994 TCP, UDP IRC protocol over TLS/SSL

995 POP3 protocol over TLS/SSL

1001 UDP Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. game.

1010 TCP, UDP surf; macOS X RPC-based services.

1025 TCP ShopPro accounting software; IIS; NFS

1025 UDP Windows RPC, network blackjack.

1026 TCP, UDP Calendar Access Protocol.

1027 TCP ICQ; IIS

1027 UDP IPv6 behind NAT44 CPEs.

1060 TCP, UDP POLESTAR.

1080 TCP, UDP Socks Proxy.

1352 TCP, UDP Lotus Notes.

1433 TCP Video Insight IP Video Surveillance Server.

1433 TCP, UDP Microsoft SQL Server

1434 TCP, UDP Microsoft SQL Server database management system monitor.

1468 TCP, UDP CSDM.

1477 TCP, UDP Microsoft SNA Server.

1484 TCP, UDP Confluent License Manager.

1502 TCP, UDP Shiva.

1701 TCP, UDP Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol (L2TP)

1716 UDP America's Army game.

1723 TCP, UDP PPTP (Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol) and macOS Server VPN service.

1755 TCP, UDP Microsoft NetShow & Media Server.

1800 TCP, UDP Snom 320 SIP Phone and ANSYS-License manager.

1812 TCP, UDP RADIUS

1817 TCP, UDP RKB-OSCS.

1855 TCP, UDP Fiorano RtrSvc.

1863 TCP, UDP MSN Messenger

1900 UDP Xbox 360 Media Center.

1900 TCP, UDP SSDP and Universal PnP

1935 TCP, UDP Macromedia Flash Communications Server

RTMP (Real Time Messaging Protocol)

1985 TCP, UDP HSRP (Hot Standby Router Protocol).

1995 TCP, UDP Cisco Perf-port.

1999 TCP, UDP Cisco Identification port.

2000 TCP Remote Anywhere; ICUII; iSpQ VideoChat; Lineage game.

2000 UDP Cisco Identification port.

2000 TCP, UDP Cisco SCCP; Remotely Anywhere.

2077 UDP IRLP (Internet Radio Linking Project).

2077 TCP, UDP Tivoli Storage Manager and TrelliSoft Agent.

2082 UDP IRLP (Internet Radio Linking Project).

2082 TCP, UDP Infowave Mobility Server.

2256 TCP, UDP PCC MFP

2300 UDP Dungeon Siege game.

2427 UDP Cisco MGCP

2427 TCP, UDP Media Gateway Control Protocol Gateway.

2556 TCP Bagle backdoor virus (W32.Beagle).

2556 TCP, UDP nicetec-nmsvc.

2701 TCP KnowShowGo P2P

2701 TCP, UDP SMS RCINFO.

2723 TCP KnowShowGo P2P

2723 TCP, UDP WatchDog NT protocol.

2900 UDP Dungeons & Dragons Online and Lord of the Rings Online games.

3000 TCP Mirilax License server, Cloud9 Integrated Development Environment server, Ruby
on Rails development default, Meteor development default.
3000 UDP BitTorrent Sync, distributed interactive simulation.

3001 TCP Web100 NDT (network diagnostic tool).

3001 TCP, UDP VidPhone.

3039 TCP, UDP Cogitate, Inc.

3050 TCP, UDP Borland Interbase database (gds_db).

3052 TCP, UDP APC 3052, Powerchute.

3061 TCP, UDP cautcpd.

3074 TCP, UDP XBOX 360

3090 UDP Rainbow Six: Vegas game.

3090 TCP, UDP Senforce Sessions Services (stss); Rappore Session Services (rtss).

3101 TCP BES (Blackberry Enterprise Server).

3101 UDP Rainbow Six: Vegas game.

3101 TCP, UDP HP PolicyXpert PIB Server.

3128 TCP Active API server port, proxy server port, known Trojan and backdoor port.

3260 TCP iSCSI target.

3306 TCP Caesar IV game.

3306 TCP, UDP MySQL database server.

3350 UDP Settlers 3 game.

3350 TCP, UDP FINDVIATV.

3269 Tcp, UDP Microsoft Global Catalog on SSL

3389 TCP, UDP Remote Desktop and Microsoft Terminal Services.

3525 TCP, UDP EIS Server port.

3783 TCP Gamespy

3784 TCP, UDP Ventrilo and BFD Control Protocol.

4000 TCP Battle.net, Diablo and Diablo II.

4000 UDP ICQ.

4000 TCP, UDP Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun and Dune 2000.

4006 TCP, UDP pxc-spvr.

4062 TCP, UDP Ice Location Service on SSL.

4373 TCP, UDP Remote Authenticated Command Service.

4444 TCP, UDP Oracle WebCenter Content.

4444 TCP, UDP Xvfb X server virtual frame buffer service.

4567 TCP Verizon Actiontec Routers (firmware monitoring and upgrading by Verizon FiOS).

4915 [currently unassigned]

4918 [currently unassigned]

4926 [currently unassigned]

5000 TCP DINA DVR Server and Dwyco Video Conferencing.

5000 TCP, UDP Universal Plug-and-Play (UPnP), AIM Video IM, and Yahoo Messenger Voice Chat.
5037 [currently unassigned]

5060 TCP, UDP Session Initiation Protocol.

5190 TCP America Online, AIM (AOL Instant Messenger), and ICQ.

5190 UDP MSN Messenger.

5191 UDP Neverwinter Nights 2 game.

5191 TCP, UDP AOL 1, AOL Instant Messenger, and ICQ.

5192 UDP Neverwinter Nights 2 game.

5192 TCP, UDP AOL 2, AOL Instant Messenger, and ICQ.

5193 UDP Neverwinter Nights 2 game.

5193 TCP, UDP AOL 3, AOL Instant Messenger, and ICQ.

5200 TCP Echolink.

5200 UDP Neverwinter Nights 2 game.

5200 TCP, UDP TARGUS GetData.

5252 UDP Neverwinter Nights 2 game.

5252 TCP, UDP Movaz SSC.

5314 TCP, UDP opalis-rbt-ipc.

5353 UDP iChat, MultiCast DNS, and macOS X Bonjour/Zeroconf port.

5445 UDP Cisco Unified Video Advantage (not verified)

5445 TCP, UDP Server Message Block over Remote Direct Memory Access (Microsoft).

5500 TCP HotLine Peer-to-Peer (P2P) file sharing, MOHAA (Medal of Honor: Allied Assault),
MatchWatch & Reverend, and VNC (Virtual Network Computing)
5500 UDP SecurID.

5631 TCP, UDP PCAnywhere.

5632 TCP MOHAA (Medal of Honor: Allied Assault) Reverend.

5632 UDP PCAnywhere.

5678 TCP MOHAA (Medal of Honor: Allied Assault) Reverend.

5678 UDP iChat.

5678 TCP, UDP Linksys Cable/DSL Routers Remote Administration.

5687 TCP MOHAA (Medal of Honor: Allied Assault) Reverend.

5749 [currently unassigned]

5800 TCP VNC.

5801 TCP VNC.

5900 TCP VNC.

5901 TCP VNC.

6000 UDP Playstation 3, Everquest, Madden NFL 2005, Medal of Honor: Rising Sun.

6000 TCP, UDP X Window

6062 TCP, UDP X Windows System.

6073 UDP Dungeon Siege game.

6084 TCP Peer to Peer Infrastructure Protocol.

6086 TCP, UDP PDTP P2P

6112 TCP, UDP Battle.net

6113 TCP, UDP Battle.net.

6114 TCP, UDP Battle.net.

6115 TCP, UDP Battle.net.

6116 TCP, UDP Battle.net.

6117 TCP, UDP Battle.net.

6118 TCP, UDP Battle.net.

6119 TCP, UDP Battle.net.

6421 TCP, UDP NIM_WAN.

6500 TCP GameSpy Arcade and Net2Phone registration.

6500 TCP, UDP Games: Black & White, Civilization III, Civilization IV, Star Wars: Battlefront, Star
Wars: Empire at War.
6542 TCP irccd.exe service.

6553 [currently unassigned]

6667 TCP Gamespy; IRC, Games: Black & White, Civilization III, Civilization IV, Command &
Conquer series, Warhammer 4000: Dawn of War, and Worms 4: Mayhem.
6667 UDP Games: Neverwinter Nights, Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield.

6667 TCP, UDP MSN Game Zone; Star Wars: Empire at War game.
6801 TCP, UDP Net2Phone; ACNet Control System Protocol.

7000 TCP Games: Command & Conquer series, Dune 2000, Emperor: Battle for Dune,
Everquest, Everquest 2

7000 UDP Real Audio, QuickTime 4 server, and Playstation 3

7070 TCP Real Audio

7070 UDP Games: City of Heroes, City of Villains.

7075 UDP Real Audio, City of Heroes, City of Villains.

7900 TCP, UDP Multicast Event.

8000 TCP WinAmp Audio Streaming; X-Lite; Icecast and Internet radio streams using
Shoutcast.
8000 UDP Aliens vs. Predator game.

8000 TCP, UDP iRDMI.

8008 TCP, UDP HTTP alternative.

8080 TCP EvoCam, Pirate Radio, WebcamXP, Unreal Tournament game.

8080 TCP, UDP HTTP alternative.

8081 TCP HTTP alternative and BlackICE ICEcap user console.

8081 TCP, UDP Dreambox 8000

8084 TCP IBM Lotus Sametime server and Apache Tomcat server.

8090 TCP HTTP alternative and WebcamXP

8092 TCP,UDP iTunes Radio Stream, EMC2 (Legato) Networker or Sun Solcitice Backup,
QuickTime streaming.

8118 TCP Privoxy.

8443 TCP, UDP PCsync HTTPS, PCSync SSL; SW Soft Plesk Control Panel, Apache Tomcast SSL,
and iCal service.

8547 [currently unassigned]

9000 UDP Asheron's Call game.

9010 UDP Asheron's Call game.

9011 UDP Asheron's Call game.

9012 UDP Asheron's Call game.

9013 UDP Asheron's Call game.

9090 TCP Zeus admin server.

9090 TCP, UDP WebSM.

9092 TCP, UDP Xml-Ipc Server Reg; Championship Manager 4.

9100 TCP Used to send raw data to a printer.

9339 TCP Clash of Clans, a mobile freemium strategy video game.

9200 TCP Elasticsearch-default Elasticsearch port.

9432 [currently unassigned]

10000 TCP, UDP Network Data Management Protocol.

12345 TCP Port used by Trend Micro antivirus program. Port 12345 is also commonly used
by various Trojan viruses such as Netbus.
12468 TCP VXtreme and WebTheater.

17770 UDP Battlezone 2 game.

17771 TCP,UDP Battlezone 2 game.

17772 UDP Battlezone 2 game.

26000 TCP, UDP Quake, Elite Force, Empire Earth 2, and QuakeWorld master server.

27015 TCP Half-Life.

27900 TCP Gamespy.

28900 TCP Gamespy.

29900 TCP Gamespy.

29901 TCP Gamespy.

31337 TCP Back orifice

33334 UDP Empire Earth game.

33335 TCP Empire Earth game.

43188 TCP, UDP REACHOUT.

47624 TCP Age of Empires, Baldur's Gate, Close Combat.

Related pages

Opening port for program or game in Windows Firewall.

How can I open or forward a port on my router?

Computer network and network card help and support.

Controller, Externet Port, Firewall, Input/output port, Interface, I/O port, Operating system terms, Port
bar, Port forwarding, Port scanner, Port triggering, Uplink

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Types of cables
 AT - Used with early keyboards
 ATA - Used with hard drives and disc drives
 Cat 5 - Used with network cards
 Coaxial - Used with TV and projectors
 Composite - Used with TV, projectors, and consoles. Also known as RCA
cables.
 DisplayPort - Used with computer monitors
 DVI - Used with monitors, projectors, and other displays
 eSATA - Used with external drives
 Firewire (IEEE-1394) - Used with digital cameras and external drives
 HDMI - Used with monitors, projectors, DVD/Blu-ray players, and other
displays
 MIDI - Used with musical keyboards and other equipment
 Mini plug - Used with headphones, microphones, speakers
 Molex - Power cable used inside your computer
 IDE/EIDE - Used with hard drives and disc drives
 Parallel - Used with printers
 PS/2 - Used with keyboards and mice
 S-Video - Used with projectors, digital cameras, and other displays
 S/PDIF - Used with DVD and surround sound.
 SATA - Used with hard drives and disc drives
 SCSI - Used with hard drives, tape drives, and disc drives
 Serial (RS-232) - Used with a mouse and Modem.
  Thunderbolt - Primarily used with Apple displays and devices
 USB - Used with keyboard, mouse, printer, MP3 players, and thousands of
other devices
 VGA/SVGA - Used with monitors and projectors
Related pages
 The difference between a connector, jack, plug, and port.
 A pin or cable is bent, broken, or missing.
 How to set up a new computer.
2. Cable can also refer to cable TV or a cable modem that is used with cable
broadband.

Main Component of a
motherboard:
Motherboard has a lot of components. These components are used to install
other devices. Major components are described below:

Expansion slot:
Since mother boards differ from normal board due to expansion capability so
these slots are most important. They are also of many types:

ISA slots
ISA or Industry Standard Architecture slot is very old slot. Initially it was used
in AT boards and cards which were mandatory like we have sound and
display card were put in this slot. It supports a 16 bit bus.  Nowadays it is
used very less.

PCI slots
PCI or Peripheral Component Interconnect slot is frequently used nowadays.
Add on cards which we use to increase the functionality of our system are
put in this slots . It supports 64 bit bus .

PCI express slots

They are the latest slots and they support full duplex serial bus. They are
used for putting add on cards.

AGP slots
AGP or Accelerated Graphics Port slot is used only for graphics card. It
supports 32 bit bus.

Memory slots
Since motherboard also facilitate communication between CPU and memory .
so  memory slots are important component of motherboard . They are mainly
of two types:

SIMM slots
SIMM stands for Single Inline Memory Module . it supports 32 bit bus. It was
used in olden times. Nowadays you will not find this slot in motherboards.

DIMM slots
DIMM stands for Double Inline Memory Module . It is used nowadays  and
supports 64 bit bus

Related Article: Is Arduino Microcontroller meeting with our

requirement?

CPU socket
Processors are installed using CPU socket . some of them are listed below.
 Socket 7- a 321 pin socket.
 Socket370- a 370 pin socket.
 Socket775-a 775 pin socket.
 Socket1156- a 1156 pin socket.
 Socket1366- a 1356 pin socket.

Socket7 and 370 were used in older motherboards. Socket775, 1156 and
1356 are the latest ones they also supports a number of new processors.

BIOS
It stands for Basic Input Output System. It is used in motherboard in form of
chip and used to perform hardware initialization during booting process.

CMOS battery
It stands for Complementary Metal Oxide Semi conductor . It is a lithium
cell which provide power supply to motherboard.
Related Article: What is Battery & how it works?

Power connectors
They are used to distribute power among all the devices connected to
mother board. They are mainly of two types :

 AT connector- used in older motherboards.

 ATX connector- used in latest motherboards.

IDE connector
It stands for Integrated Drive Electronics . these connectors are used to
connect hard disk  and floppy disk

SATA connectors
It stands for Serial Advance Technology Attachment. They are latest
ones found in new motherboards and are faster than IDE connectors.

Co-processor
It is responsible for all calculations done.

Types of motherboard
There are a number of motherboards available. Some of them are listed
below.

AT motherboards
Stands for Advanced Technology . It was used in mid 80s . It is not very small
and due to its size it can’t fit in mini desktops and laptops. It uses six pin
plugs and now it is not used.

ATX motherboards
Stands for Advanced Technology Extended. It is the updated version of AT
motherboard . The best thing about this motherboard is you can interchange
its ports. They are also smaller in size then compared to AT motherboards.

LPX motherboards
Stands for Low Profile Extension motherboard . they were the first
motherboards in which input and output ports were at back of the system
because of this feature they became quite popular . but apart from that there
were a number of reasons like absence of real AGP slot which led to its
extinction.

BTX motherboards
Stands for Balanced Technology Extended. As the technology updated there
was a need of such motherboards which could handle more power and
release less heat , for that BTX was made. It was known for thermal and
structural design.

Pico BTX motherboards

It is the smaller version of BTX motherboard . But it support only one or two
expansion slots .

Mini ITX motherboards

Iit was made in 2001 . the best thing about this is it can be cooled very easily
as it has excellent thermal design . It is generally used in PC systems.

Motherboard  is a very big topic. It can’t be completely covered in one article

. there are many things which we couldn’t cover like there classification ,
making  etc . so we are hoping to cover them in our upcoming articles.

Enjoy Learning……