I configured my free Ubunto-Linux server on AWS a few weeks ago. AWS steps users through a fairly simple process that took about two hours. After setting up the server I updated Ubuntu, downloaded and configured the BOINC client via the command line. Learning the BOINC command line options took a little while via Wiki, but again, a simple process. I may turn up a paid server because the free instance uses only a single core and therefore does not have much RAC.