I need to implement a web service which could provide requested files to other internal applications or components running on different networks. Files are dispersed across different servers in different locations and can be big as few gigabytes.
I am thinking to create a RESTful web service which will have implementation to discover the file, redirect the HTTP request to another web service on different location and send the file via HTTP.
Is it a good idea to send the file via HTTP or will it be better for the web service to copy the file to the location where requester component could access it?