Well YAST2 made the software RAID set up very simple. What I don’t know is what is the optimal place to mount the RAID. This system consists of a SSD for the OS and some storage, plus a RAID5 array. I made a mount point /home/raid51. But would it make more sense to make a it /raid51 , i.e. mount on root? Or am I just over thinking this?
You mount file systems on the place you need them.
I assume you know what you want to put on that disk space (most people do not just use only storage hardware because it is there, but because they see a need for it). So when your idea is to put /home on it, you mount it on /home. When you need it to put a huge web site on it, you mount it on /srv/www. When you need it as a space for user guest to place his movies on, you mount it on /home/guest/movies. Etc… etc.
You suggest yourself two option (out of many thousands of possibilities):
- /home/raid51. This suggests to me that you have a user raid51 and that this is that users home directory.
- /raid51. This suggests to me that it is for the usage of all users. And also that is is very logical for those users to interprete raid51 and know what is to be found there.
In any case the name of the mount points look strange to me (but it is you that decide, you are the system manager). Normaly directory names have some logic in saying what is inside. You call them /home or / or /home/myuser/music and not /SSD or /HDD or /RAID.
After all an operating system is there to hide the hardware from the user. The user is normaly unaware what part of the directory tree is on what hardware. (S)he only travels through the tree with e.g. a file manager, without ever noticing (s)he switches from one file system to another.
Maybe this might also help you in understanding how hardware storage devices are used in offering the only directory tree at Unix/Linux systems: SDB:Basics of partitions, filesystems, mount points - openSUSE
Oh yes, and when you decide that the file system is to be used by a particular user, do not forget to make him/her the owner and his/her group as the group of that mountpoint with chown.
I’d recommend…
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Determine first what type of network share technology you will use. If the technology creates a local copy of the network resource, then place on SSD for better performance. If a local copy isn’t created, then the local disk is unimportant.
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Especially if a local copy is created, consider available space on any partition you consider. openSUSE by default installs in two major partitions, root(/) and /home.
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If the resource is to be shared (local)system-wide, then somewhere off the root, eg /mnt or /media
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if the resource is to be used specific to a User, then perhaps /home/<user>/ but remember the file permissions in this location may also by default be that User.
When in doubt, mount in a location where the resource is available system-wide.
IMO,
TSU
Both good suggestions. I ran into the chown issue pretty quickly and figured that out.
The raid won’t be for system use or web but rather user use, so I guess putting it on /home was appropriate. Raid51 means the first raid 5 in the system, which I agree isn’t the most descriptive term, but it is for home use. Being a digital pack rat, I expect to have RAID52 some day. 
I hope you have a clear idea on what you are going to mount where and how you will call the mount point. Because your description is very vague to me. When you mount a file system on /home (resulting in all the home directories of all the users being on that file system, except when one of those is used as a mountpoint for another filesystem), it is mounted on /home, not on any other path that has somewhere the word raid51 in it.
“for user use” is also not veru exact. One particular user, all user? When for one particular user, then you have to ask that user where (s)he wants it mounted inside his/her home directoory. When for all users. you have to think about ownership and permission, who is allowed what.
I still have the faint feeling you are not quite understanding what a mount point is.