replicate PROD iseries box to distant TEST box cross-country

We are separating our PROD & TEST boxes geographically.

There is approx 30 gig of data & objects to copy.

People in my organization are convinced that tape is the only method given the data volume. But tape is cumbersome; takes several days to transport, tapes go missing, must be logged out, logged-in, etc.

What other strategies should be considered?


Would the following work well (FTP instead of tape transport)?

1) PROD: SAVLIB to *SAVF

2) ARP-ZIP to compress *SAVF

3) FTP from iseries PROD box to distant TEST box

4) RSTLIB to TEST box



Is it possible that 30 gig could be moved in a few hours? Or is that unrealistic.


Any suggestions such as further details or better ideas?

Thanks!


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