PostgreSQL Failback without rebuild

Hello All,

I have been reading through some of the recent discussions about failback
when in a streaming replication setup. I define failback as:

1. Node A is master, Node B is slave
2. Node A crashes || Node A is stopped || nothing happens
3. Promote Node B to Master
4. Attach Node A as slave

My understanding is currently to achieve step three you need to take a base
backup of Node B and deploy it to Node A before starting streaming
replication (or use rsync etc...).

This is very undesirable for many users, especially if they have a very
large database.

From the discussions I can see that the problem is to do with Node A
writing changes to disk that Node B are not streamed before Node A crashes.

Has there been any consensus on this issue? Are there any solutions which
might make it into 9.4 or 9.5? I've seen some proposals and a tool
(pg_rewind), but all seem to have draw backs.

I've been looking mainly at these threads:

http://www.postgresql.org/message-id/CAF8Q-Gy7xa60HwXc0MKajjkWFEbFDWTG=gGyu1KmT+s2xcQ-bw@mail.gmail.com

http://www.postgresql.org/message-id/CAF8Q-Gxg3PQTf71NVECe-6OzRaew5pWhk7yQtbJgWrFu513s+Q@mail.gmail.com

http://www.postgresql.org/message-id/519DF910.4020609@vmware.com

Cheers,

James Sewell,
PostgreSQL Team Lead / Solutions Architect
______________________________________

Level 2, 50 Queen St, Melbourne VIC 3000

*P *(+61) 3 8370 8000 *W* www.lisasoft.com *F *(+61) 3 8370 8099

--

------------------------------
The contents of this email are confidential and may be subject to legal or
professional privilege and copyright. No representation is made that this
email is free of viruses or other defects. If you have received this
communication in error, you may not copy or distribute any part of it or
otherwise disclose its contents to anyone. Please advise the sender of your
incorrect receipt of this correspondence.