The device will still have the security of a router, just not the DHCP capability, meaning you can still chnage the network name (SSID) and disable the broadcasting of that signal.  You would actually come out of the ethernet port from the wall, and go into the switch side of the device.

The MAC address of the device is printed on it somewhere or can be found on the web page setup utility.

right, the clients are easy to grant access to.  but I am connecting a LAN port of the router directly into a wall ethernet jack (that my college maintains).  I assume this is going to a switch and or a router.  How do I find the MAC address of this device (I assume I need to add it??) and does adding it grant everyone on my campus network the ability to try and hack the web config utility of my router?

Thoughts appreciated, strong passwords are my best defense for now

MAC filtering will be your last line of defense and will work wonderfully.  Any client not registered can not gain access.  To get the MAC address of the client, jut have them run ipconfig /all froma command prompt and the address will be given, unless you can see the card in person.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,1277020,00.asp

 

alright, I think we're talking past each other here, so let me restate:  my setup is as follows:  ethernet wall jack is connected to a LAN (i.e. a switch) port on my di524.  The WAN side of the di524 is empty.  The Di524's DHCP server has been disabled.

I am in one building out of many on my college's LAN (though that term may be misleading as there are lots of subnets).  With my current setup, what does MAC filtering even do?  What addresses do I need to allow to ensure that local clients continue to be able to recieve IP addresses and internet service

Get the MAC addresses from the clients and enter them into the web based utility section that controls MAC Address filtering.

Nem - I do not believe you will need to worry about that as you are a wireless extension of the U's network. It is handling the authentication of those who associate. Even if you were open (which would allow up to 253 clients to log in with the problems talked about in the other thread) the University still looks to see if they have an account and issues them an IP address based on their account status. Thats if you had to register your MAC address when first logging on at the start of the year. All universities I've tried to associate to require that to insure a paid account. You would maintain WPA to limit who you allow on your WAP - MAC filtering is an added filter you may or may not employ.

actually our network still allows anyone to hop on -- nice for the locals I suppose ...  that said, the building is somewhat isolated so I'm not really that worred

I hope you are getting a Masters from this project!!!  LOL

just props from my girlfriend, but so it goes

I'd take the props!