Embodiments provide a system for executing a maintenance operation on a virtual machine (VM). The system includes a host computing device including a first VM and a second VM, a maintenance application installed within the first VM, and an optimization framework providing an interface to the maintenance application. The system also includes an optimization server coupled to the maintenance application through the optimization framework. The optimization server is configured to select a maintenance operation to execute on the second VM and command the maintenance application to execute the maintenance operation on the second VM.