Just like any other software application, a set of base requirements needs to be met before you can install and run Jira. Therefore, it is important for you to be familiar with these requirements so that you can plan out your deployment successfully. Note that these requirements are for a behind-the-firewall deployment, also known as the Jira Server or Jira Data Center. The main difference between the two is that Jira Data Center allows for clustering, so you can have additional benefits such as high availability and better scalability. Atlassian also offers a cloud-based alternative called Jira Cloud, available at https://www.atlassian.com/software#cloud-products.