Vanilla is a PHP & MySQL solution. You will need PHP version 4.1 or greater and MySQL version 3.23 or greater.
If you are creating a fresh installation of Vanilla, all you need to do is upload all of the Vanilla files to your server. Once you are finished uploading, browse to the web-accessable folder where Vanilla is installed and you will be presented with the installer.
If you are upgrading from an existing version of Vanilla, here are a few things you should do first:
The upgrader will be performing structural changes on your database, you should have a backup of your old database just to be safe.
Download and save your old Vanilla files to your local machine. Specifically, we can use your old appg/settings.php file for importing old settings.
When you are finished backing everything up, remove all of your old Vanilla files and upload all of the new Vanilla files to your server. Browse to the web-accessable folder where Vanilla is installed and you will be presented with the upgrader.