Hello, and thanks in advance for any help

I am currently trying to get a headless bitcoin server running on ubuntu server 12.04. Running into a few problems, and wondering a couple things about how the headless client works. I used the method here to get a copy of the block chain faster: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=117982.0

Since I want to use a disk different from the boot device for storage and to not generate coins, I have been using this command:
     
     user@computer:~$ bitcoind -daemon -datadir=/mnt/storageraid/.bitcoin/ -gen=0 -rescan

which results in -

     user@computer:~$ bitcoin server starting

Is this how I should enter the command, and is this what the program should look like running? how do I know if the client has an up-to-date block chain?

I also have been receiving errors when I try to do things like bitcoind getinfo:

     user@computer:~$ bitcoind getinfo
     error: incorrect rpcuser or rpcpassword (authorization failed)
     user@computer:~$

I have put the following into my .bitcoin/bitcoin.conf file:

     rpcuser=dude
     rpcpassword=guest

am I supposed to include those when I enter the command?

Thanks for any help