diff --git a/include/villas/node.h b/include/villas/node.h
index e01863444..c24841832 100644
--- a/include/villas/node.h
+++ b/include/villas/node.h
@@ -47,6 +47,8 @@ struct node
 
 	int vectorize;		/**< Number of messages to send / recv at once (scatter / gather) */
 	int affinity;		/**< CPU Affinity of this node */
+	
+	unsigned long sequence;	/**< This is a counter of received samples, in case the node-type does not generate sequence numbers itself. */
 
 	enum node_state {
 		NODE_INVALID,	/**< This node object is not in a valid state. */
diff --git a/lib/node.c b/lib/node.c
index dca14ae83..b4aa9dc02 100644
--- a/lib/node.c
+++ b/lib/node.c
@@ -113,7 +113,7 @@ int node_start(struct node *n)
 	if (ret == 0)
 		n->state = NODE_RUNNING;
 	
-	n->seq_num = 0; /** @todo is it the appropriate place to initialize seq_num? */
+	n->sequence = 0;
 	
 	return ret;
 }
diff --git a/lib/nodes/socket.c b/lib/nodes/socket.c
index ecffea3c7..827c72998 100644
--- a/lib/nodes/socket.c
+++ b/lib/nodes/socket.c
@@ -276,7 +276,7 @@ int socket_read(struct node *n, struct sample *smps[], unsigned cnt)
 		smp->ts.origin.tv_sec  = header[1];
 		smp->ts.origin.tv_nsec = header[2];
 #else
-		smp->sequence = n->seq_num++;
+		smp->sequence = n->sequence++;
 		smp->ts.origin.tv_sec = -1;
 		smp->ts.origin.tv_nsec = -1;
 #endif