# Preparation steps #### Before you begin Before running any scripts, you must complete the following **essential preparation steps**. Please carefully consider the information in these pages. This section describes the environments, servers and network requirements that countries are required to prepare in order to install OpenCRVS. We have an automated scripts to generate [Github environments](https://docs.github.com/en/actions/deployment/targeting-different-environments/using-environments-for-deployment) for you along with all the application secrets that Github needs to run the continuous provisioning and deployment scripts. Github Actions use environment secrets and variables when installing software on servers and deploying OpenCRVS. These secrets and variables are entirely dependant on the [prerequisite accounts and repositories](/v2.0/technical/guides/installation/deploy-set-up-a-server-hosted-environment/preparation-steps/create-prerequisite-accounts-and-repositories.md). #### Further reading The [Advanced topics](/v2.0/technical/guides/installation/advanced-topics.md) section gives you important detail on the various configurations related to servers, TLS, SSH access (to comply with internal procedures), Kubernetes cluster management and disk space. The [OpenCRVS maintenance tasks](/v2.0/technical/guides/installation/opencrvs-maintenance-tasks.md) section explains how to manage data and disaster recovery. The [Monitoring](/v2.0/technical/guides/monitoring.md) section explains how to use the ELK stack to track server and application health and respond to issues. This further reading guides you through how to configure, provision, deploy and maintain OpenCRVS server deployments technically. --- # 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://documentation.opencrvs.org/v2.0/technical/guides/installation/deploy-set-up-a-server-hosted-environment/preparation-steps.md?ask= ``` 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.