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

Microsoft Purview FAQ

I get many of the same questions about Microsoft Purview, so I wanted to list those common questions here along with their answers. If your question is not answered...

2024-09-23 (first published: )

366 reads

Blog Post

Microsoft Fabric AI Skill

Are you ready to have conversations with your data? Announced in public preview within Microsoft Fabric is AI Skill, a new capability in Fabric that allows you to build...

2024-09-11 (first published: )

379 reads

Blog Post

Copilot in Microsoft Fabric

Microsoft Copilot is an app that uses AI to help you find information, create content, and get things done faster (see What Is Copilot? Microsoft’s AI Assistant Explained).  Copilot is...

2024-07-17 (first published: )

523 reads

Blog Post

Microsoft Fabric shortcuts

I talked about Microsoft Fabric shortcuts in my blog post Microsoft Fabric – the great unifier (where I have updated the picture with the newest supported sources) and wanted...

2024-05-15 (first published: )

458 reads

Blogs

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....

A Front Door for the DBA Team – AgentDBA UI

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AgentDBA began as a command line. That suits one DBA on one server, but...

Cleaning Up Azure MS Defender Billing

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I have a few Azure subscriptions, which are fairly small and not used that...

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Forums

SQL Server Vector Support II

By Steve Jones - SSC Editor

Comments posted to this topic are about the item SQL Server Vector Support II

Great Things

By Steve Jones - SSC Editor

Comments posted to this topic are about the item Great Things

Troubleshooting Slow Queries That Already Have an Index

By Imran2629

Comments posted to this topic are about the item Troubleshooting Slow Queries That Already...

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Question of the Day

SQL Server Vector Support II

With regard to SQL Server 2025's Vector support, what is an embedding?

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