Using a decentralized agreement protocol to rank storage locations for target width

A computing device of a group of computing devices of a dispersed storage network (DSN), the computing device comprises:

• a network interface;
• a local memory;
• and
• a processing module operably coupled to the local memory and the network interface, the processing module configured to:
• receive, via the network interface, a DSN access request including data for dispersed storage;
• determine a DSN address based, at least in part, on the DSN access request;
• identify a storage unit pool for processing of the DSN access request, the storage unit pool including a plurality of storage units;
• determine a resource level selection approach regarding the plurality of storage units;
• obtain ranked scoring information for the plurality of storage units in accordance with the resource level selection approach;
• select an information dispersal algorithm (IDA) width number of storage units based on the ranked scoring information and the resource level selection approach;
• encode the data with the IDA to produce at least one set of encoded data slices;
• and
• issue, via the network interface, write slice requests to the selected storage units including, for storage thereof, the at least one set of encoded data slices.

A computer readable storage medium comprises:

• at least one memory section that stores operational instructions that, when executed by one or more processing modules of one or more computing devices of a dispersed storage network (DSN), causes the one or more computing devices to:
• receive a DSN access request including data for dispersed storage;
• determine a DSN address based, at least in part, on the DSN access request;
• identify a storage unit pool for processing of the DSN access request, the storage unit pool including a plurality of storage units;
• determine a resource level selection approach regarding the plurality of storage units;
• obtain ranked scoring information for the plurality of storage units in accordance with the resource level selection approach;
• select an information dispersal algorithm (IDA) width number of storage units based on the ranked scoring information and the resource level selection approach;
• encode the data with the IDA to produce at least one set of encoded data slices;
• and
• issue write slice requests to the selected storage units including, for storage thereof, the at least one set of encoded data slices.