# Acceptance & Allocation

## Acceptance:

There are various configurable options for managing how the joint computing environments are admitted to a cluster, which determines if one is allowed to use that cluster's resources.

The standard procedure requires unanimous agreement from all nodes in the cluster. In practice, the nodes maintain off-chain blacklists of joint computing environments they won’t work with and accept others automatically. If even one node rejects a joint computing environment, the request fails and the computation customer must find another cluster.

However, some clusters are set to automatically approve all joint computing environment requests without needing unanimous consent.

## Allocation:

In our network, the cryptographic key management within clusters starts with the **shared key construction** process. In this process, each node in the cluster receives a portion of the cryptographic key, referred to as a **key share**. These key shares work together to form the [joint computing environments](https://corex-network.gitbook.io/corex-network/joint-computing-environments) cryptographic key, enabling secure collaborative computations without exposing individual inputs.

To enhance security, nodes in a luster can optionally utilize the [Secure Execution Zones](https://corex-network.gitbook.io/corex-network/nodes/secure-execution-zones) in order to create a secure section within a processor that protects the confidentiality and integrity of the code and data being used. As long as one node in the cluster remains uncompromised, the integrity of the computation is protected.
