What is the best approach to get notified if an application bug reoccurs in Compute Engine?

Creating an Alerting Policy in Stackdriver is a proactive approach to monitoring applications running on Compute Engine. By implementing an alerting policy, you can define specific conditions based on metrics such as error rates, uptime, or other performance indicators that indicate a bug has reoccurred.

When the defined conditions are met, Stackdriver (now part of Google Cloud Operations Suite) sends notifications through channels such as email, SMS, or integrations with third-party tools like Slack, enabling your team to respond immediately. This approach enhances the observability of your applications and allows for real-time responses to issues, thereby minimizing downtime and improving overall service reliability.

In contrast, methods like setting a timer for manual checks are reactive and can be error-prone, deploying new instances for testing does not directly address the issue's recurrence, and ignoring the issue entirely is risky and can lead to further complications down the line. By using an Alerting Policy, you ensure that you're always aware of potential issues, facilitating quick resolution and maintaining application performance.