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”.

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Blogs

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During COVID, I attended training on software/enterprise architecture given by Mark Richards. One of...

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T-SQL Tuesday #204 – Are blogs still relevant?

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Note: This post is the invitation for T-SQL Tuesday #204 on November 3rd, 2026....

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The ##MS_DatabaseConnector## User

By Steve Jones - SSC Editor

Comments posted to this topic are about the item The ##MS_DatabaseConnector## User

Planning for Change

By Steve Jones - SSC Editor

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Importing Excel files into SQL Server, Azure Edition

By Cláudio Tereso

Comments posted to this topic are about the item Importing Excel files into SQL...

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Question of the Day

The ##MS_DatabaseConnector## User

On SQL Server 2025, I run this code as a sysadmin: 

CREATE LOGIN Demo WITH PASSWORD = 'Demo1234567'
GO
ALTER SERVER ROLE ##MS_DatabaseConnector## ADD MEMBER Demo
GO
I then login as Demo and run this: 
USE sandbox
go
SELECT CURRENT_USER
What is returned?

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