I would like to ask 3 questions, if anyone could help
because I have read many posts in various forums and
I'm a little bit confused
1) When we shutdown the database in force mode with 0 secs wait,
are we absolutely sure that no one except SYSDBA and the
creator can be/is connected to the database;

If yes then are we sure that the server itself doesn't do anything
with the database for example garbage collection;
If it does what is the meaning of the replace option in gbak since
the only safe way to restore the database
is to drop the original one and restore the backup;

If no (shutdown doesn't guarantee that noone except
SYSDBA and the db creator can connect) then droping
the database and restoring from the backup is
the only safe way to restore a database or is there any other
way to shutdown the db for all?

2) If have read in many posts that backing up and restoring
the database is much better than just gfix it once in a while.
But gfix seems to me better in the way it doesn't allow you
to do anything unless it can get exclusive access to the
database( does this mean excluding access form the server also;).
But, am I missing anything if I just gfix the
database regularly and ofcource perform regular backups and
restore only in case of emergency;

3) Finally when gfix doesn't give any messages on the
screen, means it has found no problems or something
went wrong;

Thanks very much for your patience
John