UDP packets not sending to ports 0-40 in Java

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Chrono
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All right, guys. The code below is supposed to send UDP packets over the ports 0 - 40. However, when I run it, it doesn't seem to send anything. I'm guessing it's one of two things: I'm missing some essential part of the code, or that something's wrong with the address. Anybody have any ideas?
Code:
import java.net.*;
import java.io.*;
public class datagram 
{
public static void main(String args[]) throws Exception 
{
int i;
byte[] buf = new byte[256];
DatagramSocket socket;
DatagramPacket packet;
InetAddress address = InetAddress.getByName("localhost");
for(i = 0; i <= 40; i++)
{
socket = new DatagramSocket(i);
packet = new DatagramPacket(buf, buf.length, address, i);
socket.send(packet);
}
}
}
 
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Don't use port numbers in the range 1-1024, because they are reserved by the operating system for other services. Couldn't you use bigger numbers, such as 5000?
 
Wouldn't the packets be sent back or rejected anyway?
 
the packets won't be sent back because udp is not a reliable protcol unlike tcp, there is no guarantee that the packet will be received.
 
Chrono said:
Wouldn't the packets be sent back or rejected anyway?

The behavior depends on the operating system, but it is guaranteed that those ports (i.e. 1-40) can't be accessed. By the way, port 0 doesn't exist.

dmail said:
the packets won't be sent back because udp is not a reliable protcol unlike tcp, there is no guarantee that the packet will be received.

UDP is a best-effort protocol, meaning that the most is done to ensure (although not guarantee) a reliable delivery. In practice it is rare that UDP fails.
 
By the way, port 0 doesn't exist.

Well according to RFC's it is reserved, in general networking port 0 is the same as a broadcast address in IP, if you code an app to use port 0 it will try to find the first available UDP port

RFC
Explanation of port 0

because of this 'feature' many security experts recommend that port 0 is blocked
 
Last edited:
I think I got it, guys. Thanks for the help. For one thing I was sending them to localhost. I don't think that would work well on sending packets. Also, I did change the port numbers (by the way, I was told to use ports 0 - 40) to 40 - 80 and it worked just fine. I still think the school's security had some problems with us sending out packets, but eventually we all got it to work. Thanks again!