Share configuration
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Chapter 3. Share configuration

Listen port

For each folder that is shared by kpf, a new network “port” is opened. A “port” is simply a number used to uniquely identify a network service. When someone uses a program (for example, a web browser) to connect to a machine, it is directed to the service by specifying the address of the machine and the “port” on which the service is running.

The “port” concept allows one machine to run more than one network service. Services you might use every day include HTTP (the web,) usually connected to by port 80, SMTP (mail sending,) usually on port 25, and POP3 (mail receiving,) usually on port 110.

Usually, when you connect to a network service, you do not need to specify which “port” you want to connect to. This is because the ports are standardized, so anyone connecting to port 80 on a network machine expects to find an HTTP (web) server.

kpf is not a “standard” service, so 8001 was chosen for the default port.

The second folder you share will offer to listen on port 8002, with the number being incremented each time you start a new share.

Within certain boundaries, you are free to choose whichever port number you wish, for a share.

It is usual for port numbers below 1000 to be reserved for “system” services, that is, those under the control of the machine's administrator, therefore you may find that attempting to use anything below 1000 will simply not work.

kpf tries to warn you when it cannot “listen” on a port. It does this by displaying a broken connection icon over the top-left corner of the graph. kpf attempts to stop you assigning more than one share to the same port, but it will not attempt to stop you setting a share to listen on a port which is already occupied by another service, for example your “real” web server.

If you see the broken connection icon, right click on the bandwidth graph and choose Configure... Now try changing the listen port and pressing Ok. Assuming that this time you picked a free port, you should see that the broken connection icon disappears, and you should now be able to connect to the share.

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