Installation information

Hi - I am looking to install a new instance of JIRA. The I.T. department has asked some questions, and I am not that technical. So, how would you answer these questions:
1) If we install as an external database, what would need to be backed up on the application server?
I am assuming that attachments would have to be backed up separately from the database, and that we would then probably not need to use the backup service to create regular XML backups.
2) I.T. would like to install on a server where ports 80, 8080, 8180, 7001, 8001 are all used. All I found in the forum was a thread that mentioned editing conf/server.xml, but I couldn't find any information on the documentation pages as to how to configure for a different port.
3) Can JIRA be installed on a Solaris server?
Forgive my lack of technical expertise.
Thanks