diff --git a/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/servlet/setup/JvmSmokeTests.java b/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/servlet/setup/JvmSmokeTests.java
index c9241320f..4a5630801 100644
--- a/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/servlet/setup/JvmSmokeTests.java
+++ b/webapp/src/edu/cornell/mannlib/vitro/webapp/servlet/setup/JvmSmokeTests.java
@@ -22,9 +22,26 @@ public class JvmSmokeTests implements ServletContextListener {
 		ServletContext ctx = sce.getServletContext();
 		StartupStatus ss = StartupStatus.getBean(ctx);
 
+		checkJvmLevel(ss);
 		checkTempDirectory(ss);
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * We need to run at 1.7 or later.
+	 */
+	private void checkJvmLevel(StartupStatus ss) {
+		String specLevel = System.getProperty("java.specification.version", "");
+		if (specLevel.isEmpty()) {
+			ss.warning(this, "Can't determine the current level of Java. "
+					+ "VIVO requires at least Java 1.7.");
+		} else if (specLevel.compareTo("1.7") < 0) {
+			ss.warning(this, "VIVO requires at least Java 1.7 - "
+					+ "currently running on Java " + specLevel);
+		} else {
+			ss.info(this, "Java version is " + specLevel);
+		}
+	}
+
 	/**
 	 * Check the Java temp directory. Make sure that it exists, it is a
 	 * directory, we can read it, we can write to it.