Embodiments associate software applications with computing resources based on failure correlation information and an anti-affinity rule. An anti-affinity rule indicates that a first software application is to be separated from a second software application during execution. A management device determines failure correlations between a first computing resource that is associated with the first software application and a plurality of computing resources other than the first computing resource. The management device selects the computing resource that corresponds to the lowest failure correlation and associates the second software application with the selected computing resource based on the anti-affinity rule.