I'm building a large file server for the office...

I'm trying to do some research before making the large purchase & am having a hard time finding the right info on certain subjects.

I've seen other companies using multi-port NICs. I assume they use a managed switch and gang all four ports into one big trunk (I have no idea if I'm using the correct terminology here). Is that the way to go? Do I need to look for certain hardware for compatability or, anything with Intel Pro-1000 should be ok? PCI-Express, 64 bit PCI, on the mobo, something else? Is this an easy setup kind of a thing re: ganging all ports together? I've found an Intel Pro-1000 4 port NIC (PCI-X) for about $360 & am leaning that way unless I hear something else

What about switches? How do you go about picking one? I'm pretty sure I need a managed switch for the multi-port NIC. I was leaning toward the Linksys managed 24-port switch because it has the miniGBIC connection for linking multiple switches together, but I base the choice of Linksys on nothing... are there better brands? Any recommendations? Should I try to get one big switch rather than linking two smaller swtiches together?

I plan on running freebsd on the file server.

Currently, I have about 5 workstations and 40 render nodes & will be adding another ten after the file server comes in. I have two 24 port GigE switches - one Netgear (that I'll be tossing soon), and one unmanaged Linksys.

Any thoughts/opinions are more than welcome.

Thanks.