1. A method for migrating a virtual machine from a source host computing system to a target host computing system, the method comprising: an act of maintaining a centralized portion of virtual machine state in a storage that is accessible to the source host computing system and the target host computing system; an act of maintaining a localized portion of the virtual machine state in local storage at the source host computing system; an act of backing up at least a portion of the localized portion of the virtual machine state in a storage that is accessible to the source host computing system and the target host computing system; an act of ceasing operation of the virtual machine on the source host computing system; an act of restoring at least a portion of the backed up localized portion of the virtual machine state to local storage of the target host computing system; an act of notifying a backing infrastructure of the migration of the restored localized portion of the virtual machine state to the target host computing system; and an act of loading the virtual machine on the target host computing system using the restored localized portion of the virtual machine state.