unload / reload blues

I can't seem to find the magical incantation to back out my data from one Informix server and load it into another server. Any help would be appreciated. I am running Informix OnLine 5.02.UC1 on two machines: a runtime version on my production machine "server01" (a Sun 4/280 running SunOS 4.1.3), and a development version running on my test machine "server0" (a Sun 4/110 - please try not to laugh - also running 4.1.3). The plan was to transfer production data each evening to the test server, so we can test with almost-live data. There is about 400 MB of data to be transferred. Unfortunately, Informix doesn't seem to like that plan. I can't seem to figure out a way to transfer data expediently between the server01 and server0. Strike 1: (dbexport -> dbimport) - dbimport blows up about halfway through, complaining that a column value in table R1 has exceeded integer precision. But both the SQL "load" command, and dbload with a proper command file, load the table with no complaints. Also, if I edit down the .sql file produced by dbexport to include only R1, dbimport finishes with no complaint. Strike 2: (dbexport -> Perl script to make dbload command files -> dbload) - Works, but I have to parse the .sql file produced by dbexport, to find out which .unl files correspond to which tables. Plus, it takes ~8 hours, which is not a realistic time frame given the requirements I have to meet. Strike 3: (tbunload -> tbload) - This should be it, right? BZZZT! tbload doesn't like the tape's contents. (BTW, /dev/rcht0 is a 4mm SCSI DAT drive hooked up to server01.) The following command: server01% tbunload -t /dev/rcht0 -b 16 -s 2097152 db completes in ~15 minutes. But then, I try "tbunload" into an empty dbspace: server0% tbload -t server01:/dev/rcht0 -b 16 -s 2097152 db Please mount tape and press Return to continue ... Error inserting system catalog record. ISAM error: duplicate value for a record with unique key Hmmmm, I thought - maybe it's just dirty fuel injectors. Or maybe my system catalogs got wedged. So I proceed to do 'tbinit -i' to initialize my root dbspace. Ran tbload again, got same result. Rebooted server0. Ran tbload again, "ISAM error". Did tbinit -i, then rebooted, then did tbinit -i AGAIN. Still no dice. I even re-ran the tbunload command on server01 - same 15 minutes, same horrible fate. Questions: 1) How can I get a "duplicate key" error if I just wiped my dbspace? Is there any way to kill off whatever other key is duplicated? 2) Did I miss something obvious in the tbunload/tbload sequence of commands? Does remote access even work? (The tape appears to spin, but not for very long.) 3) Is there a better way to do this? Thanks in advance for any assistance. ...gwr... George Rapp Mail: gwr@metronet.com (home, preferred) - gwr@edsr.eds.com (work), or Ugly: /DD.ID=MSMWHQ01.GRAPP01/@eds.diamondnet.sprint.com Phone: 214/604-1036 (voice - work) 214/604-1126 (fax) Quote: "Doh!" - Homer Simpson -- George Rapp Mail: gwr@metronet.com (home, preferred) - gwr@edsr.eds.com (work) or: /DD.ID=MSMWHQ01.GRAPP01/@eds.diamondnet.sprint.com (work - can't reply) Phone: 214/604-1036 (voice - work) 214/596-5096 (home) 214/604-1126 (fax)