In this paper, we address distributed convergence to fair allocations of CPU resources for time-sensitive applications. We propose a novel resource management framework where a centralized objective for fair allocations is decomposed into a pair of performance-driven recursive processes for updating: (a) the allocation of computing bandwidth to the applications (resource adaptation), executed by the resource manager, and (b) the service level of each application (service-level adaptation), executed by each application independently. We provide conditions under which the distributed recursive scheme exhibits convergence to solutions of the centralized objective (i.e., fair allocations). Contrary to prior work on centralized optimization schemes, the proposed framework exhibits adaptivity and robustness to changes both in the number and nature of applications, while it assumes minimum information available to both applications and the resource manager. We finally validate our framework with simulations using the TrueTime toolbox in MATLAB/Simulink. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.