Abstract: A computer implemented method, system, and computer program product comprising computing at a cluster manager and node manager a realized goal state by examining a goal state stack for a set of nodes of a cluster, determining differences between the realized goal state and the actual state of the cluster and nodes, and based on the differences, determining a set of actions to align the actual state with the realized goal state.

Abstract: A method includes performing at a lifecycle manager a first process. The first process includes determining nodes in a cluster to run an application, determining a difference between a cluster goal state and a cluster actual state for the application, determining goal state for each node and sending respective goal state to agents. The method also includes performing at each agent a second process. The second process includes determining a difference between the goal state of the node and an actual state of the node, determining actions to be performed based on the difference between the goal state of the node and the actual state of the node and sending actions to resource managers to perform based on the difference between the goal state of the node and the actual state of the node.