A method is provided in the illustrative embodiments. A failure is detected in a first computing node serving an application in a cluster. A subset of actions is selected from a set of actions, the set of actions configured to transfer the serving of the application from the first computing node to a second computing node in the cluster. A waiting period is set for the first computing node. The first computing node is allowed to continue serving the application during the waiting period. During the waiting period, concurrently with the first computing node serving the application, the subset of actions is performed at the second computing node. Responsive to receiving a signal of activity from the first computing node during the waiting period, the concurrent operation of the second computing node is aborted.