Embodiments associate software applications with computing resource containers based on a placement rule and a selected failure correlation. A placement rule indicates that a first software application is to be co-located with a second software application during execution of the first and second software applications. The placement rule also indicates that the first software application is to be separated from the second software application during execution of the first and second software applications. Failure correlations are determined for a plurality of computing resources associated with the first software application. A computing resource with a lowest failure correlation is selected from the plurality of computing resources, and the second software application is associated with the selected computing resource despite the association violating the placement rule.