Often, the best way to get familiar with something is to be hands-on, so we will be installing an instance of Jira Software and using that as the basis for all our subsequent chapters and exercises.

Installing Jira Software is a straightforward process. All you need are:

• A server or virtual machine running either Windows or Linux
• A database: Oracle, MySQL, Microsoft SQL Server, or PostgreSQL
• Oracle JDK 1.8 or newer
• The Jira Software installation package

You can find the full list of supported platforms and systems at https://confluence.atlassian.com/adminjiraserver075/supported-platforms-935390828.html.