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 brand new 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.
For added security, remove the setup folder once your installation or upgrade is completed.