A method for handling failure in a networked virtualization environment having distributed virtual machine management, comprising: identifying a failed management virtual machine instance (407") of a plurality of management virtual machine instances (407, 407', 407") in the networked virtualization environment, wherein the networked virtualization environment comprises a plurality of nodes (401, 401', 401"), where a node (401, 401', 401") of the plurality of nodes (401, 401', 401") comprises a hypervisor (405, 405', 405"), one or more virtualization components and a management virtual machine instance (407, 407', 407") that is a virtual machine that is configured to handle a request that accesses management data, the request being received from the one or more virtualization components, wherein each management virtual machine instance (407, 407', 407") of the plurality of management virtual machine instances (407, 407', 407") services a subset of virtualization components in the networked virtualization environment, and wherein a management virtual machine instance (407, 407', 407") of the plurality of management virtual machine instances (407, 407', 407") has access to a corresponding shard (411, 411', 411") of a distributed database for the networked virtualization environment, the corresponding shard (411, 411', 411") storing a subset of management data for virtualization components managed by the management virtual machine instance (407, 407', 407"); designating an active management virtual machine instance (407, 407') of the plurality of management virtual machine instances (407, 407', 407") for replacing virtualization component management functionality of the failed management virtual machine instance (407"), wherein the active management virtual machine instance (407, 407') replaces the virtualization component management functionality of the failed management virtual machine instance (407") by accessing its subset of management data in its corresponding shard (411") of the distributed database; and distributing a workload of the failed management virtual machine instance (407") to the active management virtual machine instance (407, 407') in response to identifying the failed management virtual machine instance (407"). identifying a failed management virtual machine instance (407") of a plurality of management virtual machine instances (407, 407', 407") in the networked virtualization environment, wherein the networked virtualization environment comprises a plurality of nodes (401, 401', 401"), where a node (401, 401', 401") of the plurality of nodes (401, 401', 401") comprises a hypervisor (405, 405', 405"), one or more virtualization components and a management virtual machine instance (407, 407', 407") that is a virtual machine that is configured to handle a request that accesses management data, the request being received from the one or more virtualization components, wherein each management virtual machine instance (407, 407', 407") of the plurality of management virtual machine instances (407, 407', 407") services a subset of virtualization components in the networked virtualization environment, and wherein a management virtual machine instance (407, 407', 407") of the plurality of management virtual machine instances (407, 407', 407") has access to a corresponding shard (411, 411', 411") of a distributed database for the networked virtualization environment, the corresponding shard (411, 411', 411") storing a subset of management data for virtualization components managed by the management virtual machine instance (407, 407', 407"); wherein the networked virtualization environment comprises a plurality of nodes (401, 401', 401"), where a node (401, 401', 401") of the plurality of nodes (401, 401', 401") comprises a hypervisor (405, 405', 405"), one or more virtualization components and a management virtual machine instance (407, 407', 407") that is a virtual machine that is configured to handle a request that accesses management data, the request being received from the one or more virtualization components, wherein each management virtual machine instance (407, 407', 407") of the plurality of management virtual machine instances (407, 407', 407") services a subset of virtualization components in the networked virtualization environment, and wherein a management virtual machine instance (407, 407', 407") of the plurality of management virtual machine instances (407, 407', 407") has access to a corresponding shard (411, 411', 411") of a distributed database for the networked virtualization environment, the corresponding shard (411, 411', 411") storing a subset of management data for virtualization components managed by the management virtual machine instance (407, 407', 407"); designating an active management virtual machine instance (407, 407') of the plurality of management virtual machine instances (407, 407', 407") for replacing virtualization component management functionality of the failed management virtual machine instance (407"), wherein the active management virtual machine instance (407, 407') replaces the virtualization component management functionality of the failed management virtual machine instance (407") by accessing its subset of management data in its corresponding shard (411") of the distributed database; and distributing a workload of the failed management virtual machine instance (407") to the active management virtual machine instance (407, 407') in response to identifying the failed management virtual machine instance (407").