Backwards Compatibility

Due to major architectural changes, including the JMX compatibility, there is no backwards compatibility between version 4.0 of the Java Dynamic Management Kit and previous releases (3.2, 3.0, 2.0). Code developed for previous releases will most likely need to be ported in order to take advantage of the new architecture. Agents and managers developed with different versions of the product are definitely incompatible at the communications level.

One notable exception to this rule is the SNMP interoperability. Due to the relatively stable protocol definition, SNMP can be used to connect different versions of the Java Dynamic Management Kit, to the extent that the protocol was implemented by those versions. Agents or managers must continue to run their original version of the product, but they may communicate through SNMP with entities relying on a newer version