A method involves: executing an application on a cluster, which includes several nodes; and, subsequent to the cluster being partitioned into several sub-clusters, a first one of the sub-clusters executing a first one of the applications and a second one of the sub-clusters being capable of executing a second application. The first sub-cluster executes the first one of the applications after either determining that no other sub-cluster includes nodes that are part of the logical cluster that runs that application or after winning ownership of the logical cluster that runs the application. In a competition for ownership of a logical cluster, the winning sub-cluster is selected based on application-specific information, which is specific to the application that runs on that logical cluster.