Multiple Sockets on the same port vs Multiple Sockets on multiple ports

Question

Let me explain my scenario before asking the question.

I am in creation phase of 17 different multiplayer games that can be played online, directly from browser.
To accomplish this, I have choosed Silverlight.
Communication will be done using Sockets.

Image 17 different type of games like Chess, Backgammon, Pool and hundred of online users communicating between client app and server app using Sockets binded to the same PORT number.

Wouldn't be faster (for my server) if every different type of game will use another PORT number ? Chess will use 4502, Backgammon will use 4503, Pool 4504.
Will this make a difference ? Or should I use the same PORT number 4502 for all games with no fear that something bad can happen ?

Answer 1

A socket that has been established as a server can accept connection requests from multiple clients. The original server socket does not become part of the connection. The accept method makes a new socket which participates in the connection and returns this socket. The server's original socket remains available for listening for further connection requests.

So it has no advantage to use different server ports. After all web servers get all their requests on port 80 and handle this very well.

Answer 2

As far as speed of processing on your server goes it will most likely make very little difference whether you receive all your communications on one socket or 17. The one socket approach would be a tiny bit faster since your server application will probably have fewer threads to switch between. However there will be other things that will have a higher overhead such as actually processing the game moves or authorising client requests etc.

As for the question of whether to use one or multiple sockets the bigest thing you should think about is deployment constraints. The TCP port numbers that Silverlight is allowed to use a non-standard (i.e not 80 or 443) and if there is a firewall or proxy between your client and server you may be better sticking to a single port to make the access control list on the firewall simpler.