Could I use port 8080 - 8100 (if they aren't in use)? Are open ports fair game?

Question

I am building a reverse traffic server.

I have an external static ip address for a server that hosts multiple VM's

what I am wanting to do is call that ip address (or domain name) and add a port to it and that port will point to a VM on that server

for example:

http://server_ip:8080/ = http://VM.1.ip.address/

http://server_ip:8081/ = http://VM.2.ip.address/

http://server_ip:8082/ = http://VM.3.ip.address/

http://server_ip:8083/ = http://VM.4.ip.address/

is it a safe bet to use ports in as a range like that? I don't know a lot about ports but I do know port 8080 is used for web servers. My understanding is that free ports are fair game.

Answer 1

You are free to use whatever port you like. Most people prefer to use ports below 1000 for the majority of their services. This is because all ports below 1000 can be opened only by root, so malicious code will not be able to use your config files and open those ports for their purposes.