How to integrate ubuntu server with gcm(google cloud messaging)

Hello, great minds, I have question about the server cloud server(because I still am a bit confused about cloud computing) before I actually purchase cloud server.

So I am trying to develop a Android chatting application (lot like weChat and other good messaging apps) which uses Google Cloud Messaging that is featured by google. The problem is I am very bad at these stuffs, so help me out please

So this is my initial plan,

rent Ubuntu server with LAMP, use either ejabbered or openfire (or anything else) to establish xmpp server with mySQL database, At least that is my plane. my questions are

1. Does cloud servers work the same way with gcm like they would for traditional private servers

2. which Ubuntu version would work the best for me

3)other possible options/routes that i can take?

and lastly, is there any flaws with my “plan”

Thank you