Problem
What ports does MS Exchange use?
Which TCP/UDP ports are used by Microsoft Exchange?
Solution
This knowledgebase articles details the TCP and UDP ports used by MS Exchange 2003, 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016 and 2019.
Microsoft Exchange is a Windows Server based Mail Server and Calendar Server. Full feature access to MS Exchange can be achieved either by the Email Client (Microsoft Outlook) or WebMail (Exchange WebAccess). Exchange also supports IMAP and POP email client access. Below is a list of all the ports that MS Exchange uses and why. This information is useful when trying to setup firewall rules for the border exchange services (Transport Hub & Services).
Protocol | Packet Type | Port | Description |
---|---|---|---|
LDAP | TCP | 389 | Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP), used by Active Directory, Active Directory Connector, and the Microsoft Exchange Server 5.5 directory. |
TCP | 379 | The Site Replication Service (SRS) uses TCP port 379. | |
TCP | 390 | While not a standard LDAP port, TCP port 390 is the recommended alternate port to configure the Exchange Server 5.5 LDAP protocol when Exchange Server 5.5 is running on a Microsoft Windows Active Directory domain controller. | |
TCP | 3268 | Global catalog. The Windows Active Directory global catalog (which is really a domain controller "role") listens on TCP port 3268. When you are troubleshooting issues that may be related to a global catalog, connect to port 3268 in LDP. | |
LDAP/SSL | TCP | 636 | LDAP over Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). When SSL is enabled, LDAP data that is transmitted and received is encrypted. |
TCP | 3269 | Global catalog over SSL. Applications that connect to TCP port 3269 of a global catalog server can transmit and receive SSL encrypted data. To configure a global catalog to support SSL, you must install a Computer certificate on the global catalog. | |
IMAP | TCP | 143 | Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP), may be used by "standards-based" clients such as Microsoft Outlook Express, Live Mail, Mobile Devices to access the e-mail server. On early versions of Exchange IMAP4 ran on top of the Microsoft Internet Information Service (IIS) Admin Service and enables client access to the Exchange Information Store. On more recent versions of Exchange IMAP4 runs as two services (Microsoft Exchange IMAP and Microsoft Exchange IMAP Backend). |
IMAP/SSL | TCP | 993 | IMAP4 over SSL uses TCP port 993. Before an Exchange server supports IMAP4 (or any other protocol) over SSL, you must install a trusted SSL certificate on the Exchange server. This can be a self-signed certificate or a purchased signed certificate |
POP3 | TCP | 110 | Post Office Protocol (POP3), enables "standards-based" clients such as Outlook Express, Windows Mail, Live Mail and other POP3 enabled mail clients to access the e-mail server. As with IMAP4, in early versions of Exchange POP3 ran on top of the IIS Admin Service, and enables client access to the Exchange Information store. On more recent versions of Exchange POP3 runs as two services (Microsoft Exchange POP3 and Microsoft Exchange POP3 Backend). |
POP3/SSL | TCP | 995 | POP3 over SSL uses TCP port 995. |
NNTP | TCP | 119 | Network News Transport Protocol (NNTP), sometimes called Usenet protocol, enables client access to public folders in the Information store. As with IMAP4 and POP3, NNTP runs on top of the IIS Admin Service. |
NNTP/SSL | TCP | 563 | NNTPS over SSL uses TCP port 563. |
HTTP | TCP | 80 |
Hyper-Text Transfer Protocol is the protocol used by IIS but Exchange Server adds a back end to IIS for mostly servicing requests under HTTPS. However the below requests are handled by HTTP :
|
HTTP/SSL | TCP | 443 |
HTTPS over SSL. Technically the HTTPS port is part of IIS but Microsoft Exchange adds an addition site to IIS called "Exchange Back End". This site will service the following Exchange Requests:
|
SMTP | TCP | 25 | Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) is the foundation for all e-mail transport in Exchange. The SMTP Service (SMTPSvc) runs on top of the IIS Admin Service. Unlike IMAP4, POP3, NNTP, and HTTP, SMTP in Exchange does not use a separate port for secure communication (SSL), but uses a security sub-system called Transport Layer Security (TLS). Send Connectors and Receive Connectors can be configured for incoming mail and outgoing SMTP emails. Services like outMail are useful services to relay outbound SMTP messages. |
SMTP/SSL | TCP | 465 | SMTP over SSL. TCP port 465 is reserved by common industry practice for secure SMTP communication using the SSL protocol. However SMTP typically still uses port 25 and use TLS for its security layer. Send Connectors and Receive Connectors can be configured for incoming and outgoing SMTP emails. |
SMTP/LSA | TCP | 691 | The Microsoft Exchange Routing Engine (RESvc) listens for routing link state information on TCP port 691. Exchange uses routing link state information to route messages and the routing table is constantly updated. |
X.400 | TCP | 102 | TCP port 102 is the port that the Exchange message transfer agent (MTA) uses to communicate with other X.400-capable MTAs. |
MS-RPC | TCP | 135 | Microsoft Remote Procedure Call is a Microsoft implementation of remote procedure calls (RPCs). TCP port 135 is actually only the RPC Locator Service, which is like the registrar for all RPC-enabled services that run on a particular server. In Exchange 2000, the Routing Group Connector uses RPC instead of SMTP when the target bridgehead server is running Exchange 5.5. Also, some administrative operations require RPC. To configure a firewall to enable RPC traffic, many more ports than just 135 must be enabled. |
ULS | TCP | 522 | User Locator Service (ULS) is a type of Internet directory service for conferencing clients, such as NetMeeting. Exchange 2000 Server and Exchange 2000 Conferencing Server do not implement a ULS, but rather take advantage of Active Directory for directory services (by TCP port 389). |
DNS | UDP/TCP | 53 | Domain Name System (DNS) is at the heart of all of the services and functions of Windows Active Directory and Exchange Server. |
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Looking for the IP Addresses...
Above in this article is a full list of the ports used by MS Exchange but if you're looking for the IP Addresses used by the services below then please see the relevant article.
- outMail IP Addresses.
- profilter IP Addresses.
- DNS-Engine IP Addresses.
- Microsoft Office 365 IP Addresses.