Internet assigned numbers authority (IANA)

The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) was a body responsible for the unique assignment of network addresses, domain names, port numbers and much more.

The body was established by the Federal Networking Council( FNC) and the Internet Society( ISOC) and guarantees the uniqueness of the assigned IP addresses. IANA defines the ports and assigns services to them. For example, services such as the File Transfer Protocol( FTP), Telnet, Simple Mail Transfer Protocol( SMTP), Post Office Protocol ( POP) or HTTP use the well-known port numbers 0 to 1023.

The tasks of the IANA have been performed by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers( ICANN) for several years. In 1997, the assignment of IP addresses was transferred from IANA to the American Registry for Internet Numbers( ARIN), which performs this task in cooperation with the globally operating Network Information Centers(NICs).