iChat AV Ports

[amacgenius]

I bought a new wireless router and modem combo from Verizon, and I need to know the exact range of ports (I was given a really broad range) for what iChat uses for it's audio and video conferences seeing as I do video almost everyday.

So if somebody could give me a list that'd be great and much appreciated.

 

[gauchogolfer]

Go to Ralph Johns' page, he has all of the information:
link

To explain some of the iChat ports a little further.

Port 5060 is used during introductions to potential chatters. The server drops out of the link once it has been established. (You can set yourself to off line whilst in the middle of a live chat). iChat uses the SIP protocol that is used by Voice over internet (IP) phones and software applications that provide 'softphone' actions.

Port 5190 is the port used for logging in to the AOL server "oscar" where your Buddy (and everyone else's) list is kept.
(Note: Your Buddy list is not kept on your computer !! Make a backup using Address book.) This port allows all the changes to who is on line, changes in Buddy icons to be sent to you and some of the Text chatting to happen.

Ports 5297 and 5298 are used by iChat over Rendezvous (Bonjour if iChat 3). If your Local Area Network (LAN) uses a router these ports will need to be open as well.

Port 5353, This port is listed by Apple as being used for "Local" traffic but also appears in the list of router ports you might need to make changes to. If you use Rendezvous/Bonjour to chat with Audio and Video through a router on a Local Area Network (LAN), you will need to have this port open.

Port 5678 is not clearly documented as to it's use in the Apple Doc. It is in fact a server called "snatmap". This server does one job during Audio and Video chat invites. When you send an invite, this server does the negotiating between the two computers and tells them which ports are available for use. As soon as you click on the invite window to make a choice of Accepting, Blocking or Text chatting it immeadiately hands over to Port 5060.

This group of ports, 16384-16403 provide Audio and Video connections. 4 ports are used at once to carry Audio in, Video in, Audio out and Video out. (Or Audio over 4 ports). Which 4 ports are used is organised by the negotiating that happens on port 5060. When the connection is successful the connection is Peer to Peer over these 4 ports and the others (5678 and 5060) are not in use. (In fact you can take the application off line at this point).

Jabber uses TCP ports 5220, 5222 and 5223. The 5222 is the normal login but some older style servers and also GoogleTalk use port 5223 for login. With Jabber and another Buddy using iChat it will also use the A/V side of iChat to Video chat.

See the "Reading" Section next for Apple Doc information on this.

 

[ChrisBrightwell]

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93208

[...] iChat AV uses a range of ports for different purposes. When conferencing, ports 16384 to 16403 are used to send, receive, and optimize AV streams. For a single conference, 4 ports from that range of 20 are utilized to send and receive audio and video. Additionally, port 5060 is used for signaling and initiation of AV chat invitations, and 5678 is used for SNATMAP, for a total of 22 ports open. Ports used for other purposes, such as Bonjour (formerly "Rendezvous") and file transfer, are listed in the next two sections.

Tip: Traffic that goes through ports may be subdivided into different types, including TCP and UDP. iChat uses both of these, but mainly UDP. Advanced users can find more information on this in the Notes section below.

When using the built-in Mac OS X firewall, you only need to open these ports: 5060, 5190, 5297, 5298, 5678, 16384 through 16403 [...]