NASLite Network Attached Storage

I am in the process of building a new system for my NASLite setup. I have a 3ware 7500-8 RAID card on the way, and I had a couple questions.

I will be using 8 320GB drives in RAID 5. How will I know if I have a drive failure? Will NASLite say anything about it?

I am looking for a good server grade motherboard with at least 2 64 bit PCI slots. Right now I have my eye on an Asus TR-DLS or an Intel G7ESZ. I know that NL doesn't support dual CPU's at the moment, but I wanted room for future expansion.

And how much RAM is really necessary if the NAS is used to stream DVD's, and backup desktop PC's, on a gigabit LAN?

I can't help you with the rest of your questions but; I have an LSI RAID card, and if anything fails or a sub-optimal condition is detected on the array, the card itself emits a loud alarm from an attached speaker, until you restart into the RAID BIOS and shut it off to diagnose the problem. It's REALLY loud so unless your server is in your bomb shelter, you'll probably notice.

I don't think the 3Ware card I'm using has a speaker though.

A gigabyte of memory will be enough.

As far as a dual CPU setup it is a waste. A fast CPU like a 2GHz P4 or Celeron will more than saturate the gigabit interface. There is just not that much overhead to NASLite. I would be willing to bet that you only see a few percent bump in performance with dual processors.

Mike