Configure your index
This is part two of the get started walkthrough series.
Every implementation requires indexing methods to extract required metadata and information about searchable items such as location and type. In Sitecore Search, a source is part of the infrastructure that brings data into the platform. You can index items using pull and push mechanisms.
When triggered, a source extracts metadata and other information from items in repositories and other locations, then stores them in structured documents called index documents, which are stored in an index.
At runtime, Search examines the index to retrieve items that match the search request.
You can specify the type and the location of content you want to index to suit your business, data, and design strategy. The following procedure provides an example of how you might configure these options.
Your implementation will use the preconfigured entities Content, Product, Category, and Store unless you've configured required entities to match your implementation plan.
To index your items:
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Using your implementation plan, configure each required source:
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To trigger crawling, publish your configured sources.
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While the indexing is in progress, you can monitor it and observe potential errors by clicking Analytics > Sources > Overview.
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If the indexing completes successfully, you can validate the indexed content by browsing the entities in the Content collection section.
Now you can work with a developer to integrate your website or application with Sitecore Search.