A method begins by a dispersed storage (DS) processing module determining to create or modify a data object index key of a data object regarding an attribute of a plurality of attribute categories. The method continues with the DS processing module entering a process to update a data object level index node by retrieving the data object level index node from a set of dispersed storage (DS) units. The method continues with the DS processing module updating and encoding the data object level index node to produce a set of slices. The method continues with the DS processing module generating a set of write commands to write the set of slices to the set of DS units. When less than a threshold number of the set of write commands are successfully executed by the set of DS units, repeating the process to update the data object level index node.