# Prerequisites

Spring Security requires a Java 8 or higher Runtime Environment.

As Spring Security aims to operate in a self-contained manner, you do not need to place any special configuration files in your Java Runtime Environment.
In particular, you need not configure a special Java Authentication and Authorization Service (JAAS) policy file or place Spring Security into common classpath locations.

Similarly, if you use an EJB Container or Servlet Container, you need not put any special configuration files anywhere nor include Spring Security in a server classloader.
All the required files are contained within your application.

This design offers maximum deployment time flexibility, as you can copy your target artifact (be it a JAR, WAR, or EAR) from one system to another and it immediately works.