-clarify starting point

1 files changed, 20 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/taler-exchange-setup-guide.rst b/taler-exchange-setup-guide.rst
index 10ac2d7e..5842ae64 100644
--- a/taler-exchange-setup-guide.rst
+++ b/taler-exchange-setup-guide.rst
@@ -37,9 +37,29 @@ exchange machine as `[root@exchange-online]#` / `[$user@exchange-online]$` and c
 machine as `[root@exchange-offline]#` /`[$user@exchange-offline]$`.  It is possible to do the entire setup
 on one machine, but we do not recommend this for security reasons.
 
+
+Before you start
+================
+
+To deploy this with a real bank, you need:
+
+* IBAN of the bank account to use
+* BIC of the bank
+* EBICS host, user and partner IDs
+
+
+
 Installation
 ============
 
+We assume that the system is a minimal installation of Ubuntu 20.04 LTS.
+Ideally, you should have two hosts, ``exchange-online`` and
+``exchange-offline``.  It is also possible to run the HTTPS nginx server or
+the Postgres database on yet another host, but in these instructions we will
+assume that only two hosts are used. Alas, the instructions will also work if
+you run everything on one system, but then you have the security drawback of
+not keeping the high-security private keys disconnected from the Internet.
+
 To install the exchange, first make sure that your system is up-to-date
 and that the ``gnupg`` package has been installed.