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

Azure SQL offerings

There are three Azure SQL products with so many different deployment options, service tiers, and compute tiers that it can get quite confusing when choosing the right option for...

2025-03-03 (first published: )

960 reads

Blog Post

Cool AI sites

As I researched and wrote my OpenAI and LLMs blogs (see Introduction to OpenAI and LLMs, Introduction to OpenAI and LLMs – Part 2 and Introduction to OpenAI and...

2025-02-07 (first published: )

651 reads

Blog Post

Microsoft Purview GA menu’s

The new data governance features in Microsoft Purview are now being made generally available as they are gradually rolled out across various regions. You can view the deployment schedule...

2024-10-02 (first published: )

149 reads

Blogs

Query Intelligence in SQL Server 2025: What Developers Need to Know

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When Microsoft announced SQL Server 2025, I was curious about what would truly change...

Finding and Killing Blockers with Redgate AI Tech

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Redgate has a research arm, called the Foundry, that has been experimenting with AIs...

Back at Small Data SF in 2025

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Today I’m in San Francisco at Small Data SF 2025. I went to the...

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Forums

Large posts full of code not allowed anymore?

By Lowell

Several times now, I've seen a post asking for a solution. I've replied, and...

Data > Hype

By Steve Jones - SSC Editor

Comments posted to this topic are about the item Data > Hype

Create and Read the Analysis Services Flight Recorder

By Pablo Echeverria

Comments posted to this topic are about the item Create and Read the Analysis...

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Question of the Day

Slipstream parameters

What parameters are needed to enable a slipstream installation for setup.exe (SQL Server setup)?

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