> A raw EC2 instance is identical to your average VPS offering.

See, you say that, but then you later say

> What were your security group settings?

I dunno, man, I just want a server. Every other VPS provider works, and I can set up my own iptables etc.

I'm not saying EC2 is _bad_, as I'm sure things being extra mega locked down by default is good overall. But I don't think it's fair to say that EC2 is the same as a VPS.

The solution to your problem was one Googling for "AWS ping" away, and I've had more significant setup differences between two VPS providers than having to configure the AWS firewall to allow pings.

EC2 fits every definition of VPS I've ever seen.

At that point, I had already been googling for so long that giving up was the best decision. Also, when I said 'ping' I meant 'hit via a web browser' as well as ping on the command line.

Furthermore, I don't feel very comfy when doing 'sysadmin via Google,' who knows what stuff I'm screwing up?

I had never used Digital Ocean before. But getting going with them was the exact same as my previous Linode, Rackspace Cloud, prgmr.com, and every other VPS provider I have tried. I don't need to install special command line tools, or set up security groups, or generate .pems... I ask for a server, they send me an email with a password, I log in, change it, and set up my ssh prefs. Super easy, using the same stuff I use everywhere else.

The big difference between traditional VPS and IaaS services like EC2 (or Google Compute Engine, etc.) is that the latter has dynamic scaling (and a pricing model built around the assumption that you will use dynamic scaling) as a core feature; for traditional VPS-style work on an IaaS, you are likely to end up paying a premium for flexibility you aren't using (and possibly dealing with some attendant management complexity from the same source), but, other than that, IaaS should be a complete substitute for VPS.