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Need to image an old IBM AS400 so it can be stored on a Synology NAS.

Have a customer who has asked us to haul away their AS400.  After we took it offsite they asked if we could back it up to their new Synology NAS for them to access "every 3rd or 6th month" for the odd file lookup.  

Does anyone know:
1. Is this possible or do we need to send the server back onsite?
2. If it is possible how on earth do we do it?  What software would be required, etc.
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Darrell Porter
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What model of AS/400?  What version of OS/400 is it running?  Are the internal arrays fault and error-free?
Ideally, back it up to a network drive wherever it is currently located and transport just the drive to the client.
If they're only accessing this data periodically in read-only mode, for what business reason would they put this data on expensive SAN storage?

Also look at this EE link.
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Hi Darrell, thanks for getting back to me on this.  I wish I could answer your questions but I have no clue where to begin.  I'll take some time to Google how to find those things out and get back to you.  I'm not sure if the internal array is fault and error free but I'll see what I can find.  They aren't putting it on a SAN they are putting it on a NAS.  Thanks again!
1. Is this possible or do we need to send the server back onsite?

  -Possible?, yes of course, you can do a backup to file and send the files anywhere you want, using all kinds of networking protocols, the most accessible probably would be use an NFS mount. Personally, I would use a backup to file, compresses it and send it wherever via FTP protocol. All this assuming that since it is an old AS/400 the data might not be really that big (but perhaps is assuming too much).

2. If it is possible how on earth do we do it?  What software would be required, etc.

  -Nought is needed, all the necessary software is already included in the OS. AS/400 in our days is called IBM i (i for integration, as it comes with plenty of software tools already loaded). What you do need to be able to use all this, however, is knowledge.

AS/400 uses the SAVSYS command to create a system image, SAVLIB cmd to save a library, SAVDLO cmd to save a document library object (documents, user folders, mail), SAV DEV '/QSYS.LIB' cmd to save other kind of files not stored elsewhere (posix & unix compat. files, for example). And it has a dedicated menu for backups, GO SAVE, where option 21 for example will backup the whole system.

In any case, you need to know at least a few things first:
1.- version of OS/400
2.- what kind of files they need to access: DB2 records, UNIX files, OS/400 files
3.- size (if we are talking too much, then Darrel option to backup to disk and send it might be the best)

But it will be a lot faster to pay a contractor a couple of days to set it up for you, as you need to power on the system, maybe reconfigure it's network, and perform a backup to file, or leave it programmed to work weekly, etc.
Something you could consider is to migrate the files off into a more modern form (AS/400 uses EBCDIC) so they're not having to pay for you to maintain this machine and keep it hooked up to a network.

These guys could extract files from AS/400 backup tapes and output the data in ASCII tab-delimited files with full schemas:

https://www.aldownloading.com
https://www.ontrack.com
https://www.datarecoveryspecialists.co.uk

probably cheaper and more flexible in the long run.
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