On a distributed network, the decision-making process often involves individual nodes voting to change to a new state, and the system's overall behavior changes in accordance with the aggregate outcomes of the decisions every individual node votes on. The particular mechanisms used by a distributed network to vote and make decisions are determined by the network's consensus mechanism. All kinds of distributed decision-making include the separate components of the network engaging with one another to reach a shared goal. Distributed networks are particularly fault-tolerant and secure as a result of their geographical dispersion. Their benefits and drawbacks are similar to those of decentralized networks but on a larger scale.