# Storage and Credentials

## Storing Datasets in Your Own Cloud

Deep Lake can be used as a pure OSS package without any registration or relationship with Activeloop. However, registering with Activeloop offers several benefits:

* Storage provided by Activeloop
* Access to the [Tensor Database](/examples/rag/managed-database.md) for performant vector search
* Access to [Deep Lake App](https://app.activeloop.ai/), which provides dataset visualization, querying, version control UI, dataset analytics, and other powerful features
* [Managed credentials](/setup/storage-and-creds/managed-credentials.md) for Deep Lake datasets stored outside of Activeloop

{% hint style="info" %}
**When connecting data from your cloud using Managed Credentials, the data is never stored or cached in Deep Lake. All Deep Lake user interfaces (browser, python, etc.) fetch data directly from long-term storage.**
{% endhint %}

<figure><img src="/files/pfND8PvI6fJXwhYX8Sqa" alt=""><figcaption><p>Authentication Using Managed Credentials</p></figcaption></figure>

{% content-ref url="/pages/-MjkS62y0QsaXzgnj6tm" %}
[Storage Options](/setup/storage-and-creds/storage-options.md)
{% endcontent-ref %}

{% content-ref url="/pages/7GciXtjtKBOWPHmtkY7Z" %}
[Setting up Deep Lake in Your Cloud](/setup/storage-and-creds/managed-credentials.md)
{% endcontent-ref %}


---

# Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation

If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question.

Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter:

```
GET https://docs-v3.activeloop.ai/setup/storage-and-creds.md?ask=<question>
```

The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language.
The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation.

Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.