diff --git a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/TestHCM.java b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/TestHCM.java
index e4e9405f798..2761b8f5b19 100644
--- a/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/TestHCM.java
+++ b/hbase-server/src/test/java/org/apache/hadoop/hbase/client/TestHCM.java
@@ -75,6 +75,7 @@ import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.JVMClusterUtil;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.ManualEnvironmentEdge;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.util.Threads;
 import org.apache.hadoop.hbase.zookeeper.ZooKeeperWatcher;
+import org.jboss.netty.util.internal.DetectionUtil;
 import org.junit.AfterClass;
 import org.junit.Assert;
 import org.junit.BeforeClass;
@@ -106,6 +107,8 @@ public class TestHCM {
   private static final byte[] ROW_X = Bytes.toBytes("xxx");
   private static Random _randy = new Random();
 
+  private static boolean isJavaOk = DetectionUtil.javaVersion() > 6;
+
 /**
 * This copro sleeps 20 second. The first call it fails. The second time, it works.
 */
@@ -127,7 +130,9 @@ public class TestHCM {
 
   @BeforeClass
   public static void setUpBeforeClass() throws Exception {
-    TEST_UTIL.getConfiguration().setBoolean(HConstants.STATUS_PUBLISHED, true);
+    if (isJavaOk) {
+      TEST_UTIL.getConfiguration().setBoolean(HConstants.STATUS_PUBLISHED, true);
+    }
     TEST_UTIL.startMiniCluster(2);
   }
 
@@ -214,6 +219,11 @@ public class TestHCM {
 
   @Test(expected = RegionServerStoppedException.class)
   public void testClusterStatus() throws Exception {
+    if (!isJavaOk){
+      // This test requires jdk 1.7+
+      throw new RegionServerStoppedException("as expected by the test...");
+    }
+
     TableName tn =
         TableName.valueOf("testClusterStatus");
     byte[] cf = "cf".getBytes();
@@ -460,6 +470,11 @@ public class TestHCM {
      */
   @Test
   public void testConnectionCut() throws Exception {
+    if (!isJavaOk){
+      // This test requires jdk 1.7+
+      return;
+    }
+
     String tableName = "HCM-testConnectionCut";
 
     TEST_UTIL.createTable(tableName.getBytes(), FAM_NAM).close();