netstat format question on Linux

Question

Hi all:

Seeing following output to netstat, what do (1)*:*, (2)*:8102, (3)*:ibm-db2 indicate respectively?

Proto Recv-Q Send-Q Local Address               Foreign Address             State
tcp        0      0 *:8102                      *:*                         LISTEN 
tcp        0      0 *:ibm-db2                   *:*                         LISTEN

Thanks a lot.

Answer 1

This means that an application on your computer is listening on TCP ports 8102 and (I think) 446 or 523, which is the default port for IBM DB2 servers. Listening on a port allows the application to receive connections from other computers over the network.

The Foreign Address column indicates the IP address of who you're connected to. Right now, it appears that you are not connected to anyone which is why *.* appears.