Embodiments of the present invention disclose a heartbeat period setting method, including: setting a heartbeat period of a tested application to T2 and performing a first heartbeat test; setting heartbeat periods of multiple applications to T1 if the first heartbeat test is not passed, and performing heartbeat services; or setting the heartbeat period of the tested application to T3 if the first heartbeat test is passed, and performing a second heartbeat test; and setting the heartbeat periods of the multiple applications to T2 if the second heartbeat test is not passed, and performing heartbeat services; or setting the heartbeat period of the tested application to T4 if the second heartbeat test is passed, and performing a third heartbeat test, where T1