We describe a system combining cloud computing and open source software that allows individual laboratories or users to create scalable virtual proteomics analysis clusters and have large-scale computational resources at their disposal at a very low cost without the investment in computational hardware or software licensing fees. We provide detailed step-by-step instructions on using these virtual proteomics analysis clusters at the Medical College of Wisconsin Proteomics Center Web site ( http://proteomics.mcw.edu/vipdac ).