How VAOs work

gistfile1.cpp

Gluint VAO,VBO,indexBuffer;

glGenVertexArrays(1,&VAO);
glBindVertexArrays(VAO);

glGenBuffers(1,&VBO);
glBindBuffer(GL_ARRAY_BUFFER, VBO);//Use this vbo first
glBufferData(GL_ARRAY_BUFFER,.....); //move this data to GPU in this call
glVertexAttribPointer(/*point to data within VBO appropriately*/);
glEnableVertexAttribArray(/*handle of attrib in question from previous line*/);

//Do above for as many VBOs as you like

glGenBuffers(1,&indexBuffer); //now time for index data.
glBindBuffer(GL_ELEMENT_ARRAY_BUFFER, indexBuffer);//now use this vbo
glBufferData(GL_ELEMENT_ARRAY_BUFFER,.....);
//Note that here we haven't used glVertexAttribPointer or glEnableVertexAttribArray because its not required.
//GPU does that by itself;

glBindBuffer(GL_ELEMENT_ARRAY_BUFFER,0);//unbind

//At this point we have successfully created VBOs, moved data to them, and specified vertex attrib pointers
//so our work is done here

glBindVertexArrays(0);  //Unbind VAO