diff --git a/ippisite/docs/source/index.rst b/ippisite/docs/source/index.rst
index 243f944dbc445551d9c23f52d83371651c6f138f..a8282744353cb95536672f938e113cb3fefffaf5 100644
--- a/ippisite/docs/source/index.rst
+++ b/ippisite/docs/source/index.rst
@@ -9,7 +9,8 @@ Welcome to iPPI-DB's documentation!
 .. toctree::
    :maxdepth: 2
    :caption: Contents:
- 
+
+   install
    modules
 
 
diff --git a/ippisite/docs/source/install.rst b/ippisite/docs/source/install.rst
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..ec9ec8b596c02849d92bd25678f205e8d6146dee
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ippisite/docs/source/install.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+Installation
+============
+
+Basic installation and run
+--------------------------
+
+You need **python3** to install and use ippidb-web. 
+
+.. code-block:: shell
+
+    git clone https://gitlab.pasteur.fr/hub/ippidb-web.git
+    virtualenv -p python3 venv
+    . venv/bin/activate
+    cd ippisite
+    pip install -r requirements.txt
+
+Important note: for now official openbabel distributions are bugged, especially for Tanimoto functionalities. The best solution for local deployments is to clone openbabel, compile it and copy the generated python modules to the virtualenv you have created.
+
+.. code-block:: shell
+
+    sudo apt install cmake
+    git clone https://github.com/openbabel/openbabel.git
+    cd openbabel
+    mkdir build
+    cd build
+    cmake
+    cmake .. -DPYTHON_EXECUTABLE=/usr/bin/python3 -DPYTHON_BINDINGS=ON -DRUN_SWIG=ON
+    make
+    sudo make install
+    # then in the virtualenv we copy the python library installed by make install
+    (venv) user@linux:~/ippidb-web/openbabel/build$ cp /usr/local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/_openbabel.so /home/user/ippidb-web/venv/lib/python3.6/site-packages/
+    (venv) user@linux:~/ippidb-web/openbabel/build$ cp /usr/local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/openbabel.py /home/user/ippidb-web/venv/lib/python3.6/site-packages/
+    (venv) user@linux:~/ippidb-web/openbabel/build$ cp /usr/local/lib/python3.6/site-packages/pybel.py /home/user/ippidb-web/venv/lib/python3.6/site-packages/
+
+
+Public server deployment
+------------------------
+
+Ansible playbooks are available in the `ansible folder of the source repository <https://gitlab.pasteur.fr/hub/ippidb-web/tree/master/ansible>`_. These playbooks automate the initial configuration of the system (for a server using CentOS), and the initial installation or the update of the code from the repository.