When switching my DHCP to a Mikrotik CCR1009, both the AP7920 and AP7921 failed to get IP addresses. The APC7921 would look bounce between waiting and offered states like this:

The cause is the need of DHCP Option 43 (Vendor Class Identifier) specified in RFC2132 – based on [WayBack] RFC 2131 – Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol and [WayBack] RFC 1533 – DHCP Options and BOOTP Vendor Extensions – which I found first via these links:

“Vendor specific cookie” means “DHCP Option 43” is set.
I then found more details in the ASTE-6Z6K56_R0_EN.pdf documentation:
DHCP. You can use a RFC2131/RFC2132-compliant DHCP server to configure the TCP/IP settings for the Switched Rack PDU.
This section briefly summarizes the Switched Rack PDU communication with a DHCP server. For more detail about how a DHCP server is used to configure the network settings for the Switched Rack PDU, see “DHCP Configuration” in the User’s Guide.
- The Switched Rack PDU sends a DHCP request that uses the following to identify itself:
- Vendor Class Identifier (APC by default)
- Client Identifier (by default, the Switched Rack PDU’s MAC address value)
- User Class Identifier (by default, the identification of the Switched Rack PDU’s application firmware)
- A properly configured DHCP server responds with a DHCP offer that includes all of the settings that the Switched Rack PDU needs for network communication. The DHCP offer also includes the Vendor Specific Information option (DHCP option 43). By default, the Switched Rack PDU ignores DHCP offers that do not encapsulate the APC cookie in the Vendor Specific Information option using the following hexidecimal format:
Option 43 = 01 04 31 41 50 43
where
– The first byte (01) is the code
– The second byte (04) is the length
– The remaining bytes (31 41 50 43) are the APC cookie
See your DHCP server documentation to add code to the Vendor Specific Information option.
To disable the APC cookie requirement, see “Local access to the control console” on page 10. To change the control console’s DHCP Cookie Is setting, an Advanced option in the TCP/IP menu, see “Remote access to the control console” on page 10.
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