diff --git a/backfiller/backfiller/main.py b/backfiller/backfiller/main.py
index 4a27411..9bdf41e 100644
--- a/backfiller/backfiller/main.py
+++ b/backfiller/backfiller/main.py
@@ -36,29 +36,6 @@ def encode_strings(o):
 		return o.encode('utf-8')
 	return o
 
-def get_nodes(node_source=None):
-	"""List address of other wubloaders.
-	
-	This returns a list of the other wubloaders as strings of the form
-	'protocol://host:port/'"""
-
-
-	if node_source == 'file':
-		logging.info('Fetching list of other nodes from file')
-		# read a config file
-		# should I allow any filename?
-		pass
-
-	elif node_source == 'database':
-		logging.info('Fetching list of other nodes from database')
-		# query the database
-		pass
-
-	else:
-		nodes = []
-	
-	return nodes
-
 
 def list_local_segments(base_dir, stream, variant, hour):
 	"""List segments in a given hour directory.
@@ -171,7 +148,7 @@ class BackfillerManager(object):
 
 	NODE_INTERVAL = 300 #seconds between updating list of nodes
 
-	def __init__(self, base_dir, stream, variants, static_nodes=[], start=None, run_once=False, node_source=None):
+	def __init__(self, base_dir, stream, variants, static_nodes=[], start=None, run_once=False, node_file=None, node_database=None):
 		"""Constructor for BackfillerManager.
 		Creates a manager for a given stream with specified variants. If
 		static_nodes is None, manager"""
@@ -181,7 +158,8 @@ class BackfillerManager(object):
 		self.static_nodes = static_nodes
 		self.start = start
 		self.run_once = run_once
-		self.node_source = node_source
+		self.node_file = node_file
+		self.node_database = node_database
 		self.stopping = gevent.event.Event()
 		self.logger = logging.getLogger("BackfillerManager({})".format(stream))
 		self.workers = {} # {node url: worker}
@@ -207,7 +185,7 @@ class BackfillerManager(object):
 	def run(self):
 		self.logger.info('Starting')
 		while not self.stopping.is_set():
-			new_nodes = set(get_nodes(self.node_source) + self.static_nodes)
+			new_nodes = set(self.get_nodes())
 			exisiting_nodes = set(self.workers.keys())
 			to_start = new_nodes - exisiting_nodes
 			for node in to_start:
@@ -227,6 +205,30 @@ class BackfillerManager(object):
 		for worker in self.workers.values():
 			worker.done.wait()
 
+	def get_nodes(self):
+		"""List address of other wubloaders.
+		
+		This returns a list of the other wubloaders as strings of the form
+		'protocol://host:port/'"""
+		nodes = self.static_nodes + []
+	
+		if self.node_file is not None:
+			self.logger.info('Fetching list of nodes from {}'.format(self.node_file))
+			try:
+				with open(self.node_file) as f:
+					for line in f.readlines():
+						substrs = line.split()
+						if not len(line) or substrs[0][0] == '#':
+							continue
+						nodes.append(substrs[0])
+			except IOError:
+				self.logger.info('{} not found'.format(self.node_file))
+	
+		if self.node_database:
+			self.logger.info('Fetching list of nodes from {}'.format(self.node_database))
+			# query the database
+	
+		return nodes
 
 class BackfillerWorker(object):
 	"""Backfills segments from a node.
@@ -328,12 +330,13 @@ class BackfillerWorker(object):
 		
 		self.logger.info('Worker stopped')
 		self.done.set()
-		del self.manager.workers[self.node]
+		if self.node in self.manager.workers:
+			del self.manager.workers[self.node]
 
 							
 def main(base_dir='.', streams='', variants='', metrics_port=8002,
 	static_nodes='', backdoor_port=0, start=None, run_once=False,
-	node_source=None):
+	node_file=None, node_database=None):
 	"""Backfiller service."""
 
 	streams = streams.split(',') if variants else []
@@ -356,7 +359,7 @@ def main(base_dir='.', streams='', variants='', metrics_port=8002,
 	workers = []
 	for stream in streams:
 		logging.info('Starting backfilling {} with {} as variants to {}'.format(stream, ', '.join(variants), base_dir))
-		manager = BackfillerManager(base_dir, stream, variants, static_nodes, start, run_once, node_source)
+		manager = BackfillerManager(base_dir, stream, variants, static_nodes, start, run_once, node_file, node_database)
 		managers.append(manager)
 		workers.append(gevent.spawn(manager.run))