How to Move QuickBooks to the Cloud

We work with several customers and partners that put QuickBooks in the cloud, but the offerings that exist are either too slow, or too restrictive. MyCloudIT gives you the ability to move some, or all your infrastructure to the cloud, including QuickBooks. Since we build a complete Remote Desktop Service in Azure, you can install the same version of QuickBooks you install on-premises, in the infrastructure we create for you.

Why would customers move QuickBooks to the cloud?
There are several reasons customers want to move QuickBooks to the cloud. They range from needing access from multiple locations, to keeping the data out of the hands of local employees, to taking advantage of the backup and Disaster Recovery Capabilities Azure offers. The other great thing about Azure is that you only pay for the resources you use, when you use them. This means that if you do not need access to QuickBooks, or your cloud infrastructure after hours, you can turn off your cloud infrastructure and realize a significant cost savings. In Azure, you only pay for your Azure runtime costs when your infrastructure is running. Of course, MyCloudIT offers the automation to turn your infrastructure on and off at scheduled times you define, this makes is very easy to save unnecessary costs.

How do I move QuickBooks to the cloud?
The most important part of QuickBooks is the QuickBooks database. We are not QuickBooks experts, but if you are moving your on-premises QuickBooks to the cloud, you first need to build the RDS infrastructure to host QuickBooks and any other applications you will need.

1. Build the infrastructure. MyCloudIT offers a wizard driven approach to building your cloud infrastructure. We offer different architectures depending on the number of users you want to support. You can check out details of our different infrastructures. Once you request a cloud infrastructure, it will take about 90 minutes for the MyCloudIT automation to build it for you.
   
   
2. MyCloudIT offers the ability to leverage full desktop solutions in the cloud, or just Remote Application delivery from the cloud. The differences are discussed in our Remote Desktops vs Remote Apps blog and the 5 Benefits of Using Remote Desktop Services. Feedback we’ve received from our customers is that we offer many options on how to build your cloud infrastructure, so you can customize it to meet your needs. We do not believe that one size fits all.
   
   
3. Once your infrastructure is complete, you then need to install your applications, including QuickBooks. We provide details on how to install applications in your new deployment.
   
   
   
   
   
4. We will leave the specific details on installing QuickBooks to the QuickBooks guidance, but keep in mind is that your QuickBooks database will most likely be installed on the RDSMGMT server. The QuickBooks application should be installed on the session hosts (those that’s names start with RDSSH-). As a rule, we do not want to store data on the session hosts, we want all data stored in a central location, the RDSMGMT server so we have one server to backup.
   
   
5. If you want QuickBooks to leverage Excel, Excel will need to be installed on the same session host(s) as QuickBooks. QuickBooks must be able to “see” Excel for it to use it.

Hopefully this answers some questions on why and how to move QuickBooks to the cloud. If you have any specific questions, feel free to email sales@mycloudit.com.

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