1. A method for adjusting a checkpointing frequency in a distributed computing system that executes multiple jobs, comprising: receiving signals associated with operation of the computing nodes; determining risk metrics for the computing nodes using a pattern-recognition technique to identify anomalous signals in the received signals; and adjusting a checkpointing frequency of a given checkpoint for a given computing node based on a comparison of a risk metric associated with the given computing node and a threshold, thereby implementing holistic fault tolerance, in which prediction and prevention of potential faults occurs across the distributed computing system.