Techniques are disclosed for deploying services in a server cluster environment. Certain techniques are disclosed for deploying services to a cluster based on a replication policy that includes a plurality of configurable parameters. In some embodiments, the configurable parameters (also referred to herein as replication factors) can define a number of nodes to which a service is to be deployed, a number of nodes to which a service is to be prepared, and/or a number of nodes to which a service is replicated. Based on the configurable parameters, the replication policy enables users and/or cluster providers to guarantee different levels of performance and/or reliability.