Application-level overlays have emerged as a useful means of offering network services that axe not supported by the underlying physical network. Most overlays employ proprietary dependability mechanisms to render them more resilient to node failure, but the use of proprietary approaches leads to duplication of effort during development and adds design complexity. In this paper we propose generic dependability services which simplify the design of overlays. Our services are fully decentralized and are configurable to take advantage of current network conditions, which can enable us to make better repairs following failures.