James Serra

James works at Microsoft as a big data and data warehousing solution architect where he has been for most of the last nine years. He is a thought leader in the use and application of Big Data and advanced analytics, including data architectures such as the modern data warehouse, data lakehouse, data fabric, and data mesh. Previously he was an independent consultant working as a Data Warehouse/Business Intelligence architect and developer. He is a prior SQL Server MVP with over 35 years of IT experience. He is a popular blogger (JamesSerra.com) and speaker, having presented at dozens of major events including SQLBits, PASS Summit, Data Summit and the Enterprise Data World conference. He is the author of the book “Deciphering Data Architectures: Choosing Between a Modern Data Warehouse, Data Fabric, Data Lakehouse, and Data Mesh”.

Blog Post

Data Mesh Topologies

As a follow up to my blog Common Data Mesh exceptions, I wanted to discuss various types of data mesh topologies I am seeing being built. I put them...

2024-02-19 (first published: )

464 reads

Blog Post

Common Data Mesh exceptions

When it comes to data meshes that have been constructed or are currently under development, I have not observed any instances where the four core data mesh principles have...

2024-01-22 (first published: )

224 reads

Blogs

March 2026 SQL Server Security Updates

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On Patch Tuesday, in addition to OS and Office security patches, Microsoft also released...

How Fabric Mirroring Transformed with SQL Server 2025

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When mirroring was first released for Azure SQL Database, it used Change Data Capture...

The DIY Cost of Masking Test Data For Smaller Organizations

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One of the things I’ve tried hard to do in database development situations if...

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XACT_ABORT being set to ON by web services

By zoggling

We have two "identical" instances of an ASP.NET web service (or so I have...

OPENQUERY Flexibility

By Steve Jones - SSC Editor

Comments posted to this topic are about the item OPENQUERY Flexibility

A Full Shutdown

By Steve Jones - SSC Editor

Comments posted to this topic are about the item A Full Shutdown

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Question of the Day

OPENQUERY Flexibility

Which of these are valid OPENQUERY() uses?

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