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: )

1,217 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: )

680 reads

Blogs

T-SQL Tuesday #198–Change Detection

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This month we have a new host, Meagan Longoria, who graciously agreed to help...

Redgate and Rome

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I’m at the UK Redgate office today, meeting with senior leaders in all areas...

Quick Tip: Check Most DTU Expensive Queries in Azure SQL Database

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Optimizing Azure SQL Database performance often begins with identifying the most resource-intensive queries. Understanding...

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Forums

Permissions Removal When Changing Object Schema

By Brandie Tarvin

When the schema of an object is changed, SQL Server wipes out the previous...

SSRS Is Dead. Here Are Your Real Options

By sgharlow

Comments posted to this topic are about the item SSRS Is Dead. Here Are...

The Distance Metric

By Steve Jones - SSC Editor

Comments posted to this topic are about the item The Distance Metric

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Question of the Day

The Distance Metric

In the new VECTOR_DISTANCE() function in SQL Server 2025, the first parameter is the distance_metric. What is this?

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