Book Image

Working with Legacy Systems

By : Robert Annett
Book Image

Working with Legacy Systems

By: Robert Annett

Overview of this book

The IT industry is constantly evolving with the introduction of new technologies. While it is important to keep up with advancements, maintaining legacy systems is equally necessary to ensure that the infrastructure of your organization functions to the best of its ability. Sound knowledge of techniques that can be used for maintaining legacy systems can help you avoid common pitfalls. The book begins with a quick overview of what a real legacy system looks like, how it works, and common issues that may be faced when trying to maintaining it. You'll then explore the architecture of a legacy system in detail and understand each of its components. As you progress, you'll discover a variety of techniques for analyzing a legacy system and how to apply them. Once you get to grips with the security constraints associated with legacy systems, you'll explore ways to secure them. Finally, you'll be able to easily make changes in legacy systems to enhance their performance. By the end of this book, you’ll have developed the skills and confidence to work with legacy systems and efficiently maintain them.
Table of Contents (7 chapters)

Architectural Sketches


Why Sketch?

I've already mentioned creating a simple stakeholder diagram as a tool to aid investigation and conversation. It is also important to create an architecture diagram for the same reasons. It is much easier to discuss how a system works and required changes if you can physically point to something and discuss it.

Do you really know what you have and where it is? Do you really know how it interacts with the outside world and with the infrastructure below it and the services on top of it? Legacy systems can be complex with a non-obvious structure.

There are an infinite number of ways to describe and document a system, from high-level overviews to low-level detailed descriptions of all components. You can show cross sections through any part of the system. The danger is that you will try to show everything on a single diagram and make it impossible to use as a guide to the system.

Note

Architectural Elements

In Architectural Description terminology (As defined in...