> do people doing their own server setup like this use containerization at all?
Depends on what you're deploying, really.
If it's one Go service per host, there's no real need. Just a unit file and the binary. Your deployment scheme is scp and a restart.
For more complicated setups, I've used docker compose.
> Also like setting up virtual networks among VPSes seemed like it required advanced wizardry.
Another 'it depends'.
If you're running a small SaaS application, you probably don't need multiple servers in the first place.
If you want some for redundancy, most providers offer a 'private network', where bandwidth is unmetered. Each compute provider is slightly different: you'll want to review their docs to see how to do it correctly.
Tailscale is another option for networking, which is super easy to setup.
Depends on what you're deploying, really.
If it's one Go service per host, there's no real need. Just a unit file and the binary. Your deployment scheme is scp and a restart.
For more complicated setups, I've used docker compose.
> Also like setting up virtual networks among VPSes seemed like it required advanced wizardry.
Another 'it depends'.
If you're running a small SaaS application, you probably don't need multiple servers in the first place.
If you want some for redundancy, most providers offer a 'private network', where bandwidth is unmetered. Each compute provider is slightly different: you'll want to review their docs to see how to do it correctly.
Tailscale is another option for networking, which is super easy to setup.