Legacy:

Legacy frequently indicates that the system is out of date or in need of replacement.
Legacy was often perceived during a alteration process, for example, when moving data from
the legacy system to a new database.
Legacy Database:
Legacy is used to denote the old thing.Legacy database is somewhat which continues to be
used because of it cost of changing and redesigning.
A legacy database is usually something that will have to inherit and base some of it design
decisions around.
For Example:
Most companies that stuff out work may already have some other (usually horrible) solution and
it need to give a bigger and better product.
But It has to work with all of their old legacy data. The company is not going to want to manage
two different applications just so they can keep all their old records.we will need to improve our
solution to be able to migrate the data from the legacy system over into our system. This can
have a enormous influence on the overall design of the new database, because it cannot
abandoned too far from the previous without familarising a lot of problems in terms of data
integrity.
Types:
1:Flat File
2:Hierarchy
3:Network Database
Flat file, hierarchy, and network databases are usually stated as legacy databases. They
represent the ways people used to organize information in ancient times about 30 years ago.
Flat File:
Definition:
A flat file database is a type of database that stores data in a single table. This is unlike a
relational database, which makes use of multiple tables and relations. Flat file databases are
usually in plain-text form, where each line holds only one record. The fields in the record are
separated using delimiters such as tabs and commas.
Data Types:
Flat files include data types common to other databases. A few features of the data in flat file
databases include:

Database Management System: The text data represent an transitional style of data before
being encumbered into the database.
Separated Columns: Flat file databases are based on fixed-width data formatting. Columns are
separated using delimiter characters.
Data Types: Columns in the database tables are restricted to a particular data type and are not
indicated, unless the data is passed on to a relational database.
Relational Algebra: Records in flat file database tables meet tuple definitions under relational
algebra.
Example:
A spreadsheet is one example. All the data is in a single table.
 Hierarchy:
Definition:
Hierarchy is that type of legacy database in which the data is ordered into a tree-like structure.
The data is kept as records which are connected to one another through links. A record is a
collection of fields, with each field containing only one value. The entity type of a record defines
which fields the record contains a record in the hierarchical database model corresponds to a
row (or tuple) in the relational database model and an entity type resembles to a table (or

relation).

For example:
An organization could store employee information in a table that contains columns such as
employee number, first name, last name, and department number. The organization provides
each employee with computer hardware as required, but computer equipment may only be used
by the employee to which it is assigned. The organization could store the computer hardware
information in a distinct table that includes each part's serial number, type, and the employee
that uses it. The tables might look like this:

Employee table: Computer table:

EMP No First name Last Name Dept No Serial no Type User Emp No
100 Umer Saleem 10-L 3009734-4 computer 100
101 Arslan Raheem 10-L 323-283742 Monitor 100
102 Waseem Munir 20-B 2-22-723423 Monitor 100
103 Ali Hamza 20-B 232342 printer 100

In this model, the employee data table represents the "parent" part of the hierarchy, while the
computer table represents the "child" part of the hierarchy.As compare to tree structures usually
found in computer software algorithms, in this model the children point to the parents. As shown
above, each employee may possess several pieces of computer equipment, but each individual
piece of computer equipment may have only one employee owner.