Systems for distributed computing systems. A topological configuration of computing nodes is selected to manage availability of metadata data in a computing system. A method embodiment commences by accessing a plurality of node topology attributes and using those attributes to map between nodes and availability domains. Resource usage measurements such as computing node load are collected. A plurality of candidate replication configurations are generated, and each candidate replication configuration is scored with respect to several quantitative objectives. Additionally, the candidate replication configurations are given respective resource usage balance scores. One or more candidate replication configurations are selected based on resource usage balance scores and/or a separation skew value. Determination of a selected configuration is dominated by resource usage when there is a tie between best-scoring configurations or when none of the configurations meet a scoring threshold. Recalculation of configurations are triggered by an administrative command or by a topology change.