A method and system for multi-staged recovery of a distributed computer system. The method includes receiving a failure event notification from at least one node of the distributed computer system and executing a plurality of recovery stages upon receiving the failure event notification by using a recovery manager, wherein each of the plurality of recovery stages performs a defined recovery task. The progress of recovery is tracked by using at least one state machine executed by the recovery manager, wherein the state machine reflects progress of each of the recovery stages. The progress of recovery is monitored to a completion by using the state machine and the recovery manager.