A method for utilizing a decentralized agreement protocol to rank storage locations in a dispersed storage network (DSN) for data access operations. In response to receiving a DSN access request including data for dispersed storage, a DSN address is determined based, at least in part, on the DSN access request. A storage unit pool including a plurality of storage units is identified, and a resource level selection approach is determined with respect to the storage unit pool. The method continues with requesting and obtaining ranked scoring information for the plurality of storage units in accordance with the resource level selection approach. Based on the ranked scoring information and the resource level selection approach, an information dispersal algorithm (IDA) width number of storage units of the storage unit pool are selected for storage of the data as encoded by the IDA into encoded data slices.