Virtualization

Colocation in Vietnam: what to ask before shipping your hardware

BM BizMaC Team Jun 13, 2026 12 min read

Shipping a server halfway around the world to a datacenter in Vietnam is a big step. You are entrusting expensive hardware to a facility you may never visit. The gap between what your contract says and what happens on the ground can be wide, unless you walk in with the right questions. This article covers the five areas that matter most: rack space and power, cross-connects, remote hands, SLAs, and the local carrier landscape. Use it as your checklist before you sign anything.

托管前先问清机位、电力、跨连、远程值守与服务等级。

Before shipping hardware, ask about rack space, power, cross-connects, remote hands and the SLA.

Why colocation in Vietnam is a different conversation

Colocation in Vietnam is not the same as renting a cage in Singapore or Hong Kong. The datacenter market here is dominated by state-linked carriers, Viettel IDC (the telecom arm of the military), VNPT IDC (the incumbent wireline carrier), FPT Telecom (the largest private ISP), and CMC Telecom (a joint-stock carrier with government roots). Each operates its own Tier 3 facilities, and they are the landlords for most colo space in the country.

What that means for you as a foreign customer: the people you negotiate with speak English at the account-manager level, but the engineers on the floor may not. Contracts are written in Vietnamese as the controlling language, though most providers will provide an English courtesy version. Make sure the English and Vietnamese versions match on SLA terms, power commitments, and liability limits, the Vietnamese version will prevail in any legal dispute.

The second difference is power. Vietnam runs on 220V / 50 Hz with IEC C13/C19 sockets, typically single-phase for 1U and 2U servers. Three-phase power is available but must be requested at contract time. Do not assume you can plug in a 208V PDU from a US deployment, it will not work.

1. Rack space and power: be precise about what you need

Colo pricing in Vietnam is almost always quoted per U per month, and that space includes a maximum power draw. The standard offer from most providers is 100 Mbps commit on a 1 Gbps port, 400W per 1U. If your server pulls 500W under load, you will be billed for extra power or asked to move to a 2U allocation. Ask for the power limit in the contract, not just the space.

Do not rely on a server's nameplate rating. Measure actual draw at the wall with a PDU meter or a Kill A Watt before shipping. If you cannot measure, assume 60-70% of the PSU label for a typical modern server and add 20% headroom for bursts. Then ask the carrier: "What is the maximum sustained wattage before they charge overage, and what is the overage rate?"

Rack space is usually billed in full-U increments. If your server is 1.5U deep (common for some Supermicro chassis), you still pay for 2U. Ask about half-U or 1U+1U contiguous space, some facilities call it "shared rack" and let you occupy adjacent units in a customer rack, which is cheaper than a private locked cabinet.

For a real example: colocation Vietnam typically starts from around $40-60 per month per 1U with 100 Mbps commit, depending on the carrier and whether you take a shared rack or a private half-cabinet. Always confirm whether the price includes or excludes VAT (10% in Vietnam).

2. Cross-connects and IP transit: how your server reaches the internet

A colocation contract gives you rack space but not necessarily a network connection. The base offering is usually a single 1 Gbps Ethernet port with a committed rate (CIR) of 100 Mbps. Anything beyond that, additional ports, private VLANs, direct peering, is a separate cross-connect fee.

Ask these questions about the network:

  • What is the committed information rate (CIR)? 100 Mbps is the norm. Some providers offer burstable ports where you can spike to 1 Gbps but pay per-Mbps over the commit. Get it in writing.
  • How many IPv4 addresses are included? Typically 1 to 4 IPs with a /24 routed block available at extra cost. IPv6 is still rare in Vietnam but some carriers will provision a /64 on request.
  • Is the port single-homed or multi-homed? A single-homed port (one carrier = one upstream) is cheaper but a single outage takes you offline. Multi-homed (BGP with two or more upstreams) costs more but provides redundancy. Most colo providers inside Vietnam are multi-homed by default because they peer with Viettel, VNPT, and FPT internally.
  • What is the cross-connect lead time? If you need a second port for a backup link, it may take 3-5 business days to provision. Order it at contract signing, not after you are live.

If your workload serves users inside Vietnam (an API for local partners, a Vietnamese-language website, a video stream for domestic viewers), a single port from any of the big four carriers will give you good latency inside the country, typically under 10 ms between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. International latency depends entirely on the submarine cables your carrier uses. Vietnam connects to the rest of the world via AAE-1, APG, SMW5, and several regional cables. Do not expect single-digit ping to Europe or the US East Coast; 120-180 ms round-trip is normal. If your users are in Vietnam, colocation in Vietnam makes sense. If your users are everywhere else, it may not be your best option, though the domestic routing and Vietnam IPv4 can still be valuable for regulatory or compliance reasons.

3. Remote hands: what the datacenter will and will not do

You are not flying to Vietnam every time a drive fails. Remote hands, the facility's on-site engineers, are your proxy. But the scope of "remote hands" varies wildly between providers.

A standard remote-hands service covers:

  • Visual inspection and reboot via IPKVM or power cycle (if power cycling is done manually, which most Vietnam datacenters offer for free or a small per-action fee).
  • Cable replacement (power cord, Ethernet cable, fibre patch, you supply the cable or pay for theirs).
  • Drive replacement (you ship a cold spare to the datacenter; they swap it under a ticket).

What is not included in basic remote hands:

  • OS troubleshooting, software config, or BIOS changes.
  • Rack-and-stack of new hardware beyond the initial install (some charge per-device per-event).
  • Cross-connecting to a different carrier (this is a separate cross-connect order).

Ask: "What is the response time for a remote-hands ticket during business hours? During off-hours?" And: "Is there a per-action fee, or is it bundled into the monthly colo price?" Most Vietnam colo providers include up to 2-4 remote hands actions per month in the base fee, then charge $20-50 per additional action.

4. SLA: what is guaranteed and what is not

Colocation SLAs in Vietnam are generally good on the infrastructure side (power, cooling, physical access) but weaker on the network side. The typical 99.9% uptime guarantee covers facility power and cooling, not your server's reachability. Read the fine print:

  • Power SLA: 99.9% availability of dual-feed or generator-backed power. Most Tier 3 datacenters in Vietnam have N+1 redundant UPS and on-site diesel generators with 24-48 hours of fuel. A power SLA of 99.9% means 8.76 hours of allowed downtime per year, comfortable for most.
  • Network SLA: This is where the wiggle room lives. A 99.9% network availability guarantee may only apply to the carrier's own backbone, not the transit links from your port to the internet. Ask whether the SLA covers the full path from your switch port to the upstream peering point.
  • Compensation: Standard remedy is a service credit, typically 5-10% of the monthly fee per 30 minutes of outage beyond the SLA threshold, capped at 100% of one month's fee. That credit does not cover business losses. If your server handles high-value transactions, buy an additional cross-connect from a second carrier and run BGP to survive a full carrier outage.
  • Force majeure: Vietnam has typhoon season (June-November). Most SLAs carve out force majeure events, including storms and flooding. Check whether the datacenter is in a flood-prone area (most in HCMC and Hanoi are on high ground, but it is worth confirming).

5. Logistics, customs, and shipping hardware into Vietnam

Shipping a server into Vietnam is not as simple as booking a parcel. The hardware must clear customs. If the value declared on the shipping paperwork exceeds the temporary import threshold (typically around $500 for personal-use equipment), you will need a customs broker and potentially a written declaration that the equipment is for your own use and will be re-exported when decommissioned.

Practical steps:

  • Work with the datacenter's logistics partner. Most colo providers have a preferred freight forwarder who handles customs clearance for foreign customers. Using them costs more but avoids the risk of your server sitting at the port for two weeks.
  • Declare the server as "used equipment for own use" on the commercial invoice with a fair market value. Over-declaring triggers higher duties; under-declaring risks seizure. A customs broker will advise on the right number.
  • Ask about temporary export. When the server is retired, you re-export it to the original country (or scrap it in Vietnam with the carrier's help). The paperwork for re-export is usually handled by the same freight forwarder.
  • Shipping time. Air freight from the US or Europe takes 3-7 days. Sea freight takes 20-30 days plus customs clearance. Plan shipping to arrive at least one week before your colo contract starts so the hardware is racked before the billing cycle begins.

6. Local carriers and what to expect from each

The four major colo providers in Vietnam have different strengths. A brief primer:

  • Viettel IDC: Largest datacenter operator in Vietnam, with facilities in Hanoi, HCMC, and Da Nang. Strong peering with Viettel's domestic network (the country's largest mobile and fixed-line network). Best for workloads that serve Viettel mobile users. Their English account management is solid, but engineering tickets may need a Vietnamese translator.
  • VNPT IDC: Run by the former state monopoly. VNPT has the deepest fibre footprint in Vietnam. Good for workloads that require connectivity to government or enterprise networks that sit on VNPT's backbone. Their SLA terms are standard, but their cross-connect pricing is sometimes higher than Viettel's.
  • FPT Telecom: Private ISP with a strong commercial focus. FPT has good English support and a more flexible approach to contract terms. They are a good first stop for a foreign company doing a small colo deployment (1-5U). Their remote-hands service is fast and reasonably priced.
  • CMC Telecom: Smaller but aggressive on price and customer service. CMC targets the foreign enterprise segment and has competitive colo rates. Their datacenters are newer (mostly built post-2018) and have good energy efficiency ratings.

All four operate Tier 3 facilities with on-site generators, 24/7 access, and IPKVM. The main difference is their domestic peering versus international transit. If most of your traffic stays inside Vietnam, any carrier works well. If you need strong international connectivity, Viettel and VNPT have larger submarine cable investments; CMC and FPT peer through their own or partner transit.

FAQ

Can a foreign company sign a colocation contract in Vietnam directly?

Yes, but you will need a business license or at least a valid company registration in your home country. The datacenter will ask for a copy of the business registration and a signed contract with a company seal (which is common in Vietnam; they may also accept an electronic signature from an authorized representative). You do not need a local bank account to pay, international wire transfers in USD are standard, though some carriers add a small currency conversion fee.

What is the typical lead time from signing to having the server live?

Allow 2-4 weeks from contract signing to your server being racked and reachable. One week for the contract and cross-connect order to be processed, then a week for shipping, then a week for customs clearance, then a day for rack-and-stack. If you use the datacenter's logistics partner, customs can be reduced to 2-3 days.

Do Vietnam colocation providers offer IPKVM or remote KVM as standard?

Most do, but it is often a shared KVM over IP that you must request via a support ticket. Some premium bundles include a dedicated IPKVM device in your rack. Ask before signing whether the IPKVM is included in the monthly fee or charged per use. A dedicated unit is worth the $10-20/month if you need to access the BIOS frequently.

What happens if my server consumes more power than the contracted limit?

The facility will either present an overage bill (typically $0.10-0.20 per additional watt per month) or ask you to move to a larger power allocation (e.g., 600W instead of 400W). Repeated over-draw can also trigger a forced shutdown of the server by the facility, they protect the PDU capacity of the rack. Measure your actual draw and order 20% overhead to avoid this.

Is a dedicated server cheaper than colocation in Vietnam?

For a single server, a dedicated server from a Vietnam provider is usually cheaper because there is no upfront hardware cost and no customs hassle. Colocation makes financial sense when you have multiple servers (3+), or when the hardware is enterprise-grade and fully amortized. For a single 1U server, a dedicated server plan that includes 100 Mbps commit is often more economical.

What is the typical contract length for colocation in Vietnam?

Most carriers offer month-to-month billing with a 3-6 month initial commitment. Longer commitments (12 or 24 months) usually reduce the monthly rack fee by 10-20%. Month-to-month after the initial term is standard. There is no long-term lock-in on most standard plans.

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Note: This guide is for general reference. Every system and infrastructure has its own specifics, so test each step in a safe environment and consult a qualified engineer before applying it in production.

越南机柜托管前要问清的事项

托管前应确认机位、电力、跨连、远程值守和服务等级。这些条款决定日常运维的顺畅程度。文中整理成可直接对照的提问清单。