I think you confuse several terms / technologies. You do not need to migrate a database to Laravel . Basically because MySQL is your data storage service and Laravel is a framework that can use any data storage service (among other things).
In your question I infer that you have several problems and that I will try to solve them in this comment:
Use an existing database
and Migrations (from Laravel)
(1) Use a database
Laravel allows you to access data in several ways.
If you want to use DB or Eloquent you just have to configure the file "config / database.php" with the data.
With DB it's as simple as doing something that ( more info )
$results = DB::select('select * from users where id = :id', ['id' => 1]);
Eloquent is an ORM ( more info ) than allows you to interact with the database through models (classes). These models are associated with a table in your database. So that I could do something such that
$all_users_of_my_database = App\Users::all();
O
App\Users::where('email', '[email protected]')->first()
(2) Laravel Migrations
Migrations in Laravel could be similar to having a version control system, on your database. For example, when you want to create a new table, instead of doing it directly from MySQL , what you would generate is a migration for that purpose. Migrations are also used to alter the fields of the tables and not have to do directly in MySQL : In one or several fields, add, delete, change the type, etc.
Example:
php artisan make:migration create_table_users --create=users --table=users
Created Migration: 2016_11_18_164149_create_table_users
Where you would then add the columns name, surname and email.
public function up()
{
Schema::create('users', function (Blueprint $table) {
$table->increments('id');
$table->timestamps();
$table->string('name');
$table->string('surname');
$table->string('email');
});
}
public function down()
{
Schema::dropIfExists('users');
}
After this, just by executing the Laravel migration, I would already create the table with the columns described.
Summing up
When your database already exists (because you implemented it in its day) it is not necessary that you create the migrations for what already exists, only for the new modifications (optionally). If you do not want to, you can make your application with Laravel on the one hand and work with manipulating your database directly with MySQL .
Edited 2 : Please, before making modifications, ask the author of the answer. In general, changes do not seem bad to me except the first, which is not an "O" but a "Y". Thanks.