Backwards Compatibility

Versions 4.2 and 4.1 of the Java Dynamic Management Kit are fully communications-compatible: applications developed and running with version 4.1 can communicate with those developed and running 4.2. There is complete compatibility between agents using 4.1 and managers using 4.2. In the opposite case of an agent using 4.2 and a manager using 4.1, there is only a minor limitation with the connector heartbeat feature (see "Heartbeat Cross-Compatibility").

Versions 4.2, 4.1, and 4.0 of the Java Dynamic Management Kit are fully code-compatible: applications developed with version 4.1 and 4.0 will compile without modification when using version 4.2 of the packages. Some classes may cause compiler warnings about deprecation, but functionality is unchanged.

Due to major architectural changes, including the JMX compatibility, there is no communications-compatibility between version 4.2 of the Java Dynamic Management Kit and versions 4.0, 3.2, 3.0, and 2.0. Code developed for versions 3.2, 3.0, and 2.0 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, except for SNMP.

Due to its relatively stable protocol definition, SNMP can be used to connect applications developed with 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 developed and running with different versions.

Files generated by the mibgen tool of the 4.2 release are compatible with those generated by the 4.1 version with one exception. The metadata classes generated for a MIB and used by the SNMP adaptor need to be regenerated. The other classes generated to represent the whole MIB and a skeleton implementation of each MIB group are unchanged, and they can be safely replaced by your previously customized implementations.