Vietnam

Server Colocation and VPS Hosting in Vietnam

Submitted by tomo on January 23, 2011 - 6:30pm

I used to run a hosting company back in the states. I wouldn't want to get into that business again as it's capital-intensive (for a tech company) and highly competitive.

Looking at the server colocation market in Vietnam it seems small and expensive for what you get, and maybe there is far more demand from Vietnam-based businesses to host in the US because that's where their customers are. But companies that aim for the domestic market need to consider hosting locally since the Internet link to the US is relatively narrow and expensive with high latency.

When I searched for colocation servers in Vietnam, the #1 result, vn84.com, was down; webhosting.com.vn's account has been suspended; aacecom.net is now a parked domain just showing ads. Not very good results.

After distilling the first 100 or so results on Google:

Conclusion: FPT is definitely a stable business, yet prices aren't out of line, with higher upload speeds. It's always best to avoid anything priced in USD since the Vietnam dong is certainly going to weaken against the dollar soon. But even the cheapest colo at 1.3 million VND is more than I can lease a dedicated server for in the US.

So how much are dedicated servers at these places?

Oddly, for pavietnam.com the price to lease a dedicated server is cheaper than to buy and colo your own!

Virtual Private Servers are another option. Let's compare:

They come out to roughly a third of the cost to colo. You'd be better off finding a friend to chip in and get pavietnam's dedicated server deal.

UPDATE April 3, 2012:
There are a lot of small providers in Vietnam outside of the big ones listed above. If you want to check some out, many even have free trials. Check out the forum at vn-zoom.com if you can read Vietnamese.

For colocation, Viettel's IDC "Sóng Thần" datacenter in Binh Duong is the largest in Vietnam, and possibly all of southeast Asia.

When considering Singapore as an alternative hosting center, be aware that generally prices for VPSs in Singapore are significantly higher than what you would pay in the US, while latency is still around an order of magnitude (10x) that of a Vietnam-based host, while still 1/2 to 1/3 of a North American host. YMMV.

Easy Access to Facebook in Vietnam, Part Deux

Submitted by tomo on January 14, 2011 - 2:58pm

Here's an easier way to access Facebook again in Vietnam, as a follow-up to my earlier post Bypass Vietnam's Block on FaceBook - or China's Block on YouTube.

Just change your DNS settings to use 65.111.171.175 as your DNS server like before. I've set up a DNS server which returns different IP addresses for facebook (facebook.com and fbcdn.net). You can also do this on your computer by setting entries for all subdomains of facebook.com to 153.16.15.71 and for fbcdn.net to 60.254.175.11.

For detailed instructions on changing your computer's DNS settings refer to http://code.google.com/speed/public-dns/docs/using.html but remember to use the address 65.111.171.175 instead of Google's 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.8.4.

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Bypass Vietnam's Block on FaceBook - or China's Block on YouTube

Submitted by tomo on January 4, 2011 - 7:54pm

For some time now, ISPs in Vietnam have been blocking a small number of websites, particularly Facebook. Fortunately, the number of blocked sites was really small (in China hundreds of sites are blocked) and the method of blocking traffic to Facebook was very weak. The Vietnamese ISPs simply stopped returning DNS queries for the Facebook domain. So everyone soon figured out they could simply change their computer's DNS settings to use a non-blocking DNS server, such as Google's (8.8.8.8).

I'm hearing rumors now, while I'm traveling in Europe, that Vietnamese ISPs have really cracked down on access to Facebook and that the DNS trick no longer works.

So here are some more foolproof ways to get around the Facebook block in Vietnam which will also work for any website that is blocked in any country. For example, the Great Firewall of China blocks access to an ever-changing list of sites by more than just DNS. But these methods should work there too.

An added advantage is that you may also be able to access US sites that block all non-US computers like Hulu and certain YouTube videos.

1. Pay for VPN access outside of Vietnam. This is essentially what I do by renting a server in the US, but I only tunnel my web traffic over an ssh connection. If anyone wants a shell on my server for tunneling purposes (and not downloading porn) contact me.

Setting up SSH is a bit quirky so most people are better off with a true VPN solution.

One that comes recommended is StrongVPN. By going with them you'll get full support and they show you how to set it all up.

2. Install free but ad-supported Hotspot Shield

From their site:

Secure your web session, data, online shopping, and personal information online with HTTPS encryption.
Protect yourself from identity theft online.
Hide your IP address for your privacy online.
Access all content privately without censorship; bypass firewalls.
Protect yourself from snoopers at Wi-Fi hotspots, hotels, airports, corporate offices.

You may want to install ad blockers if you go this route. They will also track information about you to sell to advertisers.

3. Proxy servers.

Pick a proxy server from http://www.xroxy.com/ and set your browser to use it without needing to buy or install anything. You don't need to use a proxy server in Vietnam, in fact it's probably better not to.

In a pinch you can browse through a "CGI proxy" like http://12345proxy.com/ without having to set up anything.

Using a proxy server could slow down access to some websites, especially ones in Vietnam. You can install some browser add-ons so that you only go through a proxy for the sites that are blocked, like Facebook.

For Google Chrome:
Proxy Switchy: https://chrome.google.com/extensions/detail/caehdcpeofiiigpdhbabniblemipncjj

For FireFox:
FoxyProxy: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2464/

4. Just for watching videos on sites like Hulu, Amazon Video on Demand, Pandora, or YouTube, you can try http://www.usvideo.ca/ although it costs $5.25/month.

Cost-of-Living in Vietnam: It's Really Cheap

Submitted by tomo on October 4, 2010 - 3:26am

UPDATE April 29, 2012! If you have a question about moving to Vietnam, working in Vietnam, or otherwise related to being a Vietnamese expat, please write your question on the forum instead.

UPDATE July 17, 2012! Follow-up article Finding affordable housing in Vietnam - How much should it cost? has been posted
---

So there's been a lot of chatter in the Saigon twitter community lately about the average income of Ho Chi Minh City and whether $600/month can get you a decent middle-class lifestyle here.

This is what it costs to live in Saigon, Vietnam's (and all of French Indochina's) largest, busiest city and commercial center:

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Movie Theaters in Saigon

Submitted by tomo on September 11, 2010 - 7:56pm

Does anybody aggregate movie theater show times for Ho Chi Minh City? Here's where I get my information, from disparate sources on poorly designed Vietnamese websites:

Cinebox
212 Lý Chính Thắng, Q.3 (near Kỳ Đồng)
240 Đường 3/2, Quận 10 (Hòa Bình, huge place)
http://www.cinebox.vn/index.php?page=schedule&step=1

Galaxy
116 Nguyễn Du, Q.1,
230 Nguyễn Trãi, Q.1
246 Nguyễn Hồng Đào, Q.Tân Bình
http://www.galaxycine.vn/?cine=calendar&search=cinema

Megastar
Hung Vuong Plaza
CT Plaza
http://megastar.vn/index.aspx

And then there's always free movies at:
Bobby Brewers
45 Bui Vien, P.Pham Ngu Lao. Q.1
86 Pham Ngoc Thach, Q.3
306/8 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai, Q.3
179 Tran Huy Lieu. Q.PN
http://www.bobbybrewers.com/bv_schedule.html

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About the author

Asian-American expat living in Vietnam over 3 years. I am involved in tech startups and do Drupal consulting. I choose to live in Saigon and Vietnam and I want to see the city and its people reach their true potential.

Where is Saigon?

It's not wrong to wonder where in the world Saigon is.

Saigon is the name of the city now officially known as Ho Chi Minh City. But most people who call Saigon home call their home Saigon and it's mostly tourists who I hear refer to it as Ho Chi Minh City (or Ho Chi Minh Ville for the French).

After the Vietnam/American War ended in 1975, many place names ceased to exist such as Saigon, South Vietnam, and plenty of street names.

Tu Do is now Dong Khoi, Thong Nhat is Le Duan. And Tan Son Nhut Airport is now Tan Son Nhat International Airport. Rue Paul Blanchy has been Hai Ba Trung since the 1950s.

Those who haven't seen Vietnam for decades will be confused not just by the geographical changes but the incredible amount of development and modernization that has since taken place.

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I also post a lot of technical material unrelated to Vietnam that doesn't hit the home page. Starting from November 2015 I am only posting technical articles on my new sub-blog: TECH.saigonist.com

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