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

Serving layers with a data lake

Data lakes typically have three layers: raw, cleaned, and presentation (also called bronze, silver, and gold if using the medallion architecture popularized by Databricks). I talk about this is...

2023-08-28 (first published: )

391 reads

Blog Post

Data Marketplace

I question I have been getting from customers lately is about a data marketplace. What is it, and what products can I use to build it? A data marketplace,...

2023-04-24 (first published: )

154 reads

Blog Post

New Microsoft Purview features

Microsoft Purview, formally called Azure Purview (see Azure Purview is generally available) has recently released a number of new cool features. I wanted to call out a few of...

2023-02-22 (first published: )

433 reads

Blogs

From Couch-Potato to Triathlete – and What This Means for Your SQL Server

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Do you know if your SQL Server is really running at its best? To...

Retro Data 2025 – Slidedeck

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You can find the slides of my session on the €100 DWH in Azure...

The Book of Redgate: We Value Teams

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This value is something that I still hear today: our best work is done...

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Single User SQL Server on Linux

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All the Costs of Downtime

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How Well Does the MSSQL Extension in VSCode Work?

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Question of the Day

Single User SQL Server on Linux

How can I start SQL Server on Linux in single-user mode to restore the master database?

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