A method includes, in a network of interconnected grid compute nodes, receiving a request to execute an application in the network, registering the application, determining whether the application meets a threshold to enable assigning the application to one of the grid compute nodes within the network, assigning the application to execute on a specific grid compute node having no other current applications executing, preparing the grid compute node for execution of the application, recovering the grid compute node if the application terminates prematurely, and deregistering the application on the grid compute node if the application executes successfully.