A Deep Dive into Effective Database Migration Approaches for Transitioning Legacy Systems in Advanced Applications

Abstract

The problem with legacy systems in the age of digital transformation is that they are most of their enterprises and public sector services passing pipes, and the technology that serves as their back bone is most of the time too old and outdated to grow, as all of us know that most of their enterprises are growing, not only they, but so are the public sector services. This paper presents the urgent demand for updating these systems, advocating for moving relational databases to modern platforms. The characteristics of legacy systems are addressed, what motivates such transformation, several reengineering strategies such as rehosting, replacing, mitigation, and retargeting. The data migration strategy along with best practices for a successful execution is provided along with a complete overview of database migration processes (including schema translation and data transformation). The
paper also brings up that advanced technologies like the Advanced Message Queuing Protocol (AMQP) and DevOps practices play a positive part in smoothing the migration process. It analyzes the various migration approaches, i.e. rehosting, refactoring, rebuilding, replacing and their cost, risk, alignment to organizational goals, and so forth. Through this study it strives to provide the companies with the strategic framework for their realization of legacy infrastructure replacement, which should be of scalable, secured and ready for future technology advancements systems.