# Configuring a crawler
<a name="define-crawler"></a>

A crawler accesses your data store, identifies metadata, and creates table definitions in the AWS Glue Data Catalog. The **Crawlers** pane in the AWS Glue console lists all the crawlers that you create. The list displays status and metrics from the last run of your crawler.

 This topic contains the step-by-step process of configuring a crawler, covering essential aspects such as setting up the crawler's parameters, defining the data sources to crawl, setting up security, and managing the crawled data. 

**Topics**
+ [Step 1: Set crawler properties](define-crawler-set-crawler-properties.md)
+ [Step 2: Choose data sources and classifiers](define-crawler-choose-data-sources.md)
+ [Step 3: Configure security settings](define-crawler-configure-security-settings.md)
+ [Step 4: Set output and scheduling](define-crawler-set-output-and-scheduling.md)
+ [Step 5: Review and create](define-crawler-review.md)