The present disclosure provides a method for managing a virtual machine cluster. The method includes: sending, by the first virtual machine, a first heartbeat message to at least two neighboring virtual machines in the N virtual machines, so that the at least two neighboring virtual machines detect the first heartbeat message, where a result of detecting the first heartbeat message is used to determine a status of the first virtual machine, and the first virtual machine establishes a neighbor relationship with the at least two neighboring virtual machines according to the information about the N virtual machines; and detecting, by the first virtual machine as a neighboring virtual machine of a second virtual machine in the at least two virtual machines, a second heartbeat message sent by the second virtual machine.