I'm trying to shut down a database with still one open connection, using
gfix -shut -attach 5 ....
This naturally fails with message 'database shutdown unsuccessful'.

After this I can not connect anymore to the database, even not as
sysdba, I always get the message 'shutdown in progress'.

I tried to bring the database online, but this failed as well ('Target
shutdown mode is invalid').

The only solution is to close the open connection to the database (the
one that made the shutdown fail)
or to force a shutdown and bring it online again. After this new
connections are allowed again.

Is this the normal behaviour or am I missing something?

Tested with Firebird SS 2.0.5 and 2.1.3 on linux x86-64.

Regards,

Stefan