Basic knowledge of monitoring, networking, and containers is useful but is not mandatory.
All the test environments were validated using macOS and Linux, while enforcing specific software versions for added compatibility, so those are the best candidates to guarantee you won't run into issues. Chapter 3, Setting Up a Test Environment, provides all the technical information on this subject.
Decent internet connectivity is required to download the software dependencies, as is a modern browser to ensure access to all the web interfaces presented in the book.