def METHOD_NAME(self, cursor, all_expected_columns):
    cursor.execute("select top 0 * from sys.configurations")
    all_columns = {i[0] for i in cursor.description}
    available_columns = [c for c in all_expected_columns if c in all_columns]
    missing_columns = set(all_expected_columns) - set(available_columns)
    if missing_columns:
        self.log.debug(
            "missing the following expected settings columns from sys.configurations: %s", missing_columns
        )
    self.log.debug("found available sys.configurations columns: %s", available_columns)
    return available_columns