My client’s website was supposed to go live last weekend. Since the website needed to be hosted in Vietnam, I recommended Digipower run by a person I know through a friend of mine from the US. Digipower offers Linux web hosting packages which is one reason why I chose them.
Unfortunately they host their servers in three different locations with FPT. That means they are vulnerable to the network whims of FTP which can, many times, be a bad thing. Since I started using Digipower, I noticed that I can only remain connected, via FTP for a certain length of time. I guess that is a good thing in regards to security but lately, I have been unable to make backups from my client’s account. There seems to be a limit on bandwidth they can use in a specific period of time. In short, I am unable to download a backup of an entire WordPress account which is less than 2000 files.
Not a good thing. Imagine if I had been developing using Joomla or Drupal.
Today things just got worse. My client’s two domains are now suspended even though whois records indicate they are active until 2009. Yep, DNS troubles but who is to blame. In the US I would have complete control of my domains and the nameserver configurations but here, Digipower is taking full responsibility.
Even worse, I cannot even access my client’s website with the given IP address.
Web hosting still has a long ways to go in Vietnam.
Edit: Turns out it was not a DNS issue but a billing issue, per se. We still have bandwidth allocation problems though.
Edit 2: Their firewall was blocking me since I was downloading many files. They stated they corrected the problem. The upload and download speeds were both slow though.
I leave my web hosting pain to Google 🙂
Once I figure out how to get my FPT modem to forward an IP to my server, I will run some websites on my own. Sometimes it gets frustrating using another server.
Still no response from Digipower. My current webhost, AnHosting.com, would have responded within 30 minutes or less.
Does it have to be hosted in VN?
I just bought hosting myself at Gatorhost. So far, so good?
Do you recommend Joomla? I’m thinking of going that route for my web development.
I also need to setup an ftp and I’m going to migrate my blog from blogger over to wordpress.
ah, im so lazy.
Yeah, the websites need to be in Vietnam since most of the visitors are from here. Sometimes it is hard to access my account in the US which can be frustrating.
Dreamhost in the UK is good. I use AnHosting.com out of Chicago which I really like.
I use WordPress for my web development work. Joomla and Drupal are very bulky. WordPress can do the same things as Joomla and Drupal. If you need some help, just ask me. I like hacking WordPress templates 🙂
Kevin,
Can you explain why some Viet websurfers could not see a website hosted on a US based web server? I don’t understand this stuff, but am interested!
Thanks,
Dan
When I was in Viet Nam this February, I can’t access a couple blog sites via the hotel internet. It just came up with a 404 html error when i clicked the blog sites link via google.
Guys,
I’ve just moved here from Australia two months ago (Hanoi). A good mate of mine has just set up a webhosting/design service and he guarantees 100% up time or money back. My http://www.nick-in-nam.com blog is hosted there and it’s always up, no problems.
My buddy’s name is Adam and his company is called GEA Interactive
(http://gea-interactive.com.au/).
Speak to Adam directly (send an email to [email protected]) and tell him Nick in Nam sent you. He will hook you up, and take care of you personally. He’s very keen on doing some business in Vietnam.
Cheers,
Nick
His service’s servers are located in the US. I need to keep my client’s websites in Vietnam. Hosting overseas tends not to be a good idea since the bandwidth outside of the Vietnam tends to be slower due to poor routing and filtering.
My personal favorite is Anhosting.com in the US. I also like DreamHost in the UK which is a favorite of many Linux geeks.
@Dan:
Due to filtering and poor routing, it is quite common not be able to access websites outside outside of Vietnam. You will notice certain popular sites such as Yahoo 360 can load up very slowly. Gmail as well. That is why Yahoo and Google would like to move some of their services in country to improve services.
Thanks Kevin, I get it now!
Kevin, if you need web hosting in Vietnam, you should give http://vinahost.vn a try. You can expect the same service you’ve received from US hosting providers. The good thing is you can also get your support queries answered in English.