1. A method for transferring an operating environment from a first host to a second host, the operating environment including a storage and a memory implemented on the first host, the method comprising: identifying the first host as the active host; receiving, at a hardware network interface component of the first host, a message addressed to the first host from a cluster monitor coupled to the first host and second host, the message further including an identification of the second host to which the operating environment is to be transferred; creating, by at least one hardware processor of the first host, a first snapshot of the storage implemented on the first host in response to the message received by the hardware network interface component of the first host; defining a logical container on the second host identified by the message as a target for the first snapshot of the storage implemented on the first host; transferring the first snapshot of the storage to the logical container on the second host identified by the message addressed to the first host while the first host is still active; transferring a differential update of the storage implemented on the first host to the second host identified by the message addressed to the first host; transferring a memory image from the first host to the second host; and identifying, by the cluster monitor, the second host as the active host.