Andrew Hammond wrote:
>> AFAIK, as long as you've dropped that node from all other nodes, you can
>> add it back in with the same #.
> 
> While this should theoretically be possible, why would you want to?
> Being lazy about defaults to node 1 seems a poor reason.

It has more to do with source-code management than good cluster practices.  I'd like to have an INCLUDE file for Slony that might be something like this:

  # Cluster 1, lives in Hoboken
  DEFINE alpha    1;
  DEFINE beta     2;

  # Cluster 2, lives in Kalamazoo
  DEFINE delta    3;
  DEFINE gamma    4;

We use Subversion for all source code (scripts), and it's distributed to all sites.  It would be nice to have a single INCLUDE file that defined all nodes.

If a node goes down, I just want to blow off the database, clean it out of Slony, and rebuild it as though it had never existed in the first place.  If I have to tell the administrator, "Well, you have to edit this source code INCLUDE file, pick a new node number, save it, and check it in to Subversion, before you can rebuild the Slony node," well, that makes life more complicated!

Thanks,
Craig