Policies, which specify event-responses for reacting to events, may be configured on host computer systems. An event-response may be executed when a particular event is detected on a host. The events may include a software change, a host machine processes change, a resources key change, and/or a critical failure. One or more event-responses may be defined for a policy. When an event is detected, the active policy is examined for event-responses corresponding to the event. The event-responses may also have defined a permitted number of executions. Thus, an event-response may be automatically executed only a permitted number of times. After the permitted number is reached, the event-response no longer executes in response to an event. The counters corresponding to event-responses may be reset when a new policy is activated.