1. A method of managing storage resources in a decentralized network, comprising steps of: associating a persistent node identifier with each node in the network, even though a current network address assigned to the node upon entering the network may vary from one entry to another; dynamically evaluating behavior of a plurality of storage nodes, wherein the storage nodes are those nodes providing on-demand storage resources; maintaining on-going knowledge of the dynamically evaluated behavior of the storage nodes by resolving an identity of each of the storage nodes using a mapping that correlates the current network address of each node in the network to its associated persistent node identifier; and using the maintained knowledge to manage the storage resources of the storage nodes.