---
title: "Create External Store"
url: "https://axoflow.com/docs/axoflow/0.86/storage/create-external-store/"
last_modified: "2026-07-16T11:02:12+02:00"
---

> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://axoflow.com/docs/axoflow/0.86/llms.txt).

# Create External Store

To create a new store in an AxoLake or a self-managed ClickHouse instance, complete the following steps. (For details on deploying AxoLake or an appropriate self-managed ClickHouse instance, [contact our support team](https://axoflow.com/contact?contact_form_subject=support_request).)

- [AxoStore](https://axoflow.com/docs/axoflow/0.86/storage/create-store/index.md) stores logs locally on the AxoRouter that processed the messages.
- [External stores](https://axoflow.com/docs/axoflow/0.86/storage/create-external-store/index.md) use a separately deployed AxoLake or an existing compatible ClickHouse cluster.

## Prerequisites

- You must have an AxoLake or a self-managed ClickHouse instance available.
- You’ll need user credentials (username and password) to authenticate to the database. The account must have:

  - `INSERT` privileges for the database where you’re creating the store to send data, and
  - `SELECT` privileges to access the data from the **Search Logs** page.
- Your AxoRouter instances must be able to access the database on the network level.

## Steps

To create a new store in an AxoLake, complete the following steps.

1. Navigate to **Routers > Stores > Add Store**.
2. Enter a **Name** for the store. his name will appear in the list of destinations (with the `-store` suffix) when setting the destination of a Flow. You cannot modify the name of the store later.

   ![Create Store](https://axoflow.com/docs/axoflow/0.86/storage/create-external-store/create-store_hu_c36eee86b61f08d4.webp)
3. (Optional) Enter a description for the store.
4. (Optional) Select additional options about which message parts to store:

   - **Include Metadata**: If enabled, the metadata of the events is stored as a separate object. Otherwise, only the metadata that has dedicated fields in the [Storage schema](https://axoflow.com/docs/axoflow/0.86/reference/storage-schema/index.md) will be recorded.
   - **Include Raw Body**: Store also the original, unparsed (raw) message as a separate field.

     **CAUTION:**

     Enabling this option approximately doubles the storage size of the message.
5. Set **Store type** to **External**.
6. Enter the name of the **Database** to create the store in. (This is the name of the database you’ve created in AxoLake/ClickHouse. It can only contain letters, numbers, and underscores.)
7. Set the **gRPC Address** and the **ClickHouse Native TCP Address** of the database listener, for example, `10.0.0.123:9100` and `10.0.0.123:9000`. Instead of IP address, you can also use FQDN.
8. Select **Use TLS** to encrypt the connection to the external store.
9. Enter the credentials of the user account used to access the database into the **User** and **Password** fields.
10. Select **Create**.