usability problem: secondary standard port

[rejetto]

an introduction
As you may already know port 80 is the standard port for HFS.
It is so for several reason like
- it is the standard port for http, and HFS uses http
- the port doen't need to be specified in the URL if 80, thus getting a shorter form

the problem
Many PCs has port 80 occupied by other software. On those PCs, HFS uses a dynamic port, and many users doesn't realize quickly how to solve this problem. They even ask on the forum.

possible solution
Having a secondary standard port means that HFS, after probing and failing on port 80, tries another fixed port, and only after this second failure uses a non-fixed port.
I'm currently implementing a secondary port on HFS 2.1, and chose 8080 because it is the standard as alternative to 80.

my question
Do you see a better solution or have any advice?
Please, if you just agree, reply here. An "i agree" is fine. Thank you.

[maverick]

I understand the problem but I don't think 8080 is a good choice.  Like port 80, many people use the very common port 8080 for other things.  For example proxomitron uses that port.  I have used it for many years.  

It might be better to use a less common port.  From iana you could use the following: (there are others)
280 - http-mgmt
591 - http-alternate to 80

http://www.iana.org/assignments/port-numbers

[rejetto]

591 doesn't seem a real standard

http-alt   591/tcp    FileMaker, Inc. - HTTP Alternate (see Port 80)

consider we can have 3 ports instead of 2
the other http-alt is 8008, but i find it is hard to read than 8080

[MarkV]

FYI, on my system BOTH ports are occupied.

Port 80 by Apache, and port 8080 by Proxomitron.

Proxomitron is a very common app I think, there are also some proxies using that port.

Instead of a secondary standard port, you could ask the user to enter an alternate port, not choosing a random one. The user dialog should state clearly that

1. port 80 (standard HTTP) is occupied and cannot be used by HFS
2. the user should use the port he enters to configure his router/firewall

MarkV

[rejetto]

if the problem is solved with no user intervention, it is much better

consider i don't aim to solve the problem 100%.
this is mostly for those who are not expert and find it hard to solve.
if the problem is solved automatically for all non-expert, and requires little intervention to expert (it is already so), it is ok.

[~GeeS~]

port 880 seems to be unassigned.

port 8080 is used by many apllications... nice to see so many proxomitron users
______
~GeeS~

[Unknown8063]

Ports 8080 and 88 are also used by several routers for remote management.

[rejetto]

ok, at the moment the instruction is tryPorts(['80','8080','280','10080','0']);

the ending zero is the dynamic port.

[Harley]

I have a router and have always forwarded my hfs file server to port 8085 without a hint of trouble
people download super fast from me. I am new to the forums and new to HTML...but I have been using HFS File server with that port forwarded for almost 4 years now. I know you have to add the port to your URL, but its worth it and most people do not mind. Hope this helps