diff --git a/clickhouse-jdbc/src/main/java/ru/yandex/clickhouse/ClickHouseConnectionImpl.java b/clickhouse-jdbc/src/main/java/ru/yandex/clickhouse/ClickHouseConnectionImpl.java
index 1ba8d191e..70985779b 100644
--- a/clickhouse-jdbc/src/main/java/ru/yandex/clickhouse/ClickHouseConnectionImpl.java
+++ b/clickhouse-jdbc/src/main/java/ru/yandex/clickhouse/ClickHouseConnectionImpl.java
@@ -88,6 +88,9 @@ private void initConnection(ClickHouseProperties properties) throws SQLException
         }
 
         serverTimeZone = TimeZone.getTimeZone("UTC"); // just for next query
+        timezone = serverTimeZone;
+        serverVersion = "";
+        
         try (Statement s = createStatement(); ResultSet rs = s.executeQuery("select timezone(), version()")) {
             if (rs.next()) {
                 serverTimeZone = TimeZone.getTimeZone(rs.getString(1));
diff --git a/clickhouse-jdbc/src/main/java/ru/yandex/clickhouse/util/ClickHouseVersionNumberUtil.java b/clickhouse-jdbc/src/main/java/ru/yandex/clickhouse/util/ClickHouseVersionNumberUtil.java
index eb6b20e9e..e3b0211c4 100644
--- a/clickhouse-jdbc/src/main/java/ru/yandex/clickhouse/util/ClickHouseVersionNumberUtil.java
+++ b/clickhouse-jdbc/src/main/java/ru/yandex/clickhouse/util/ClickHouseVersionNumberUtil.java
@@ -9,8 +9,8 @@
  */
 public final class ClickHouseVersionNumberUtil {
 
-    private static final Pattern VERSION_NUMBER_PATTERN =
-        Pattern.compile("^\\s*(\\d+)\\.(\\d+).*");
+    private static final Pattern VERSION_NUMBER_PATTERN = Pattern.compile("^\\s*(\\d+)\\.(\\d+).*");
+    private static final Pattern NON_NUMBERIC_PATTERN = Pattern.compile("[^0-9.]");
 
     public static int getMajorVersion(String versionNumber) {
         Matcher m = VERSION_NUMBER_PATTERN.matcher(versionNumber);
@@ -22,5 +22,36 @@ public static int getMinorVersion(String versionNumber) {
         return m.matches() ? Integer.parseInt(m.group(2)) : 0;
     }
 
-    private ClickHouseVersionNumberUtil() { /* do not instantiate util */ }
+    public static int compare(String currentVersion, String targetVersion) {
+        if (currentVersion == null || targetVersion == null || currentVersion.isEmpty() || targetVersion.isEmpty()) {
+            throw new IllegalArgumentException("Both version cannot be null or empty");
+        }
+
+        currentVersion = NON_NUMBERIC_PATTERN.matcher(currentVersion).replaceAll("");
+        targetVersion = NON_NUMBERIC_PATTERN.matcher(targetVersion).replaceAll("");
+        if (currentVersion.equals(targetVersion)) {
+            return 0;
+        }
+
+        String[] v1 = currentVersion.split("\\.");
+        String[] v2 = targetVersion.split("\\.");
+
+        int result = 0;
+        for (int i = 0, len = Math.min(v1.length, v2.length); i < len; i++) {
+            int n1 = Integer.parseInt(v1[i]);
+            int n2 = Integer.parseInt(v2[i]);
+
+            if (n1 == n2) {
+                continue;
+            } else {
+                result = n1 > n2 ? 1 : -1;
+                break;
+            }
+        }
+
+        return result;
+    }
+
+    private ClickHouseVersionNumberUtil() {
+        /* do not instantiate util */ }
 }
diff --git a/clickhouse-jdbc/src/test/java/ru/yandex/clickhouse/integration/ClickHouseLargeNumberTest.java b/clickhouse-jdbc/src/test/java/ru/yandex/clickhouse/integration/ClickHouseLargeNumberTest.java
index e0eb722e3..e9a393fe8 100644
--- a/clickhouse-jdbc/src/test/java/ru/yandex/clickhouse/integration/ClickHouseLargeNumberTest.java
+++ b/clickhouse-jdbc/src/test/java/ru/yandex/clickhouse/integration/ClickHouseLargeNumberTest.java
@@ -27,9 +27,10 @@
 import ru.yandex.clickhouse.except.ClickHouseException;
 import ru.yandex.clickhouse.settings.ClickHouseProperties;
 import ru.yandex.clickhouse.settings.ClickHouseQueryParam;
+import ru.yandex.clickhouse.util.ClickHouseVersionNumberUtil;
 
 public class ClickHouseLargeNumberTest {
-    private Connection conn;
+    private ClickHouseConnection conn;
 
     @BeforeTest
     public void setUp() throws Exception {
@@ -57,10 +58,10 @@ public void tearDown() throws Exception {
 
     @Test
     public void testBigIntSupport() throws SQLException {
-        if (conn == null) {
+        if (conn == null || ClickHouseVersionNumberUtil.compare(conn.getServerVersion(), "21.7") >= 0) {
             return;
         }
-        
+
         String testSql = "create table if not exists system.test_bigint_support(i Int256) engine=Memory;"
                 + "drop table if exists system.test_bigint_support;";
         try (Connection conn = ClickHouseContainerForTest.newDataSource().getConnection();
diff --git a/clickhouse-jdbc/src/test/java/ru/yandex/clickhouse/util/ClickHouseVersionNumberUtilTest.java b/clickhouse-jdbc/src/test/java/ru/yandex/clickhouse/util/ClickHouseVersionNumberUtilTest.java
index 8da439ca2..50d152ec3 100644
--- a/clickhouse-jdbc/src/test/java/ru/yandex/clickhouse/util/ClickHouseVersionNumberUtilTest.java
+++ b/clickhouse-jdbc/src/test/java/ru/yandex/clickhouse/util/ClickHouseVersionNumberUtilTest.java
@@ -10,7 +10,8 @@ public void testMajorNull() {
         try {
             ClickHouseVersionNumberUtil.getMajorVersion(null);
             Assert.fail();
-        } catch (NullPointerException npe) { /* expected */ }
+        } catch (NullPointerException npe) {
+            /* expected */ }
     }
 
     @Test
@@ -18,7 +19,8 @@ public void testMinorNull() {
         try {
             ClickHouseVersionNumberUtil.getMinorVersion(null);
             Assert.fail();
-        } catch (NullPointerException npe) { /* expected */ }
+        } catch (NullPointerException npe) {
+            /* expected */ }
     }
 
     @Test
@@ -62,4 +64,15 @@ public void testMinorSimple() {
         Assert.assertEquals(ClickHouseVersionNumberUtil.getMinorVersion("1.1-SNAPSHOT"), 1);
     }
 
+    @Test
+    public void testCompare() {
+        Assert.assertEquals(ClickHouseVersionNumberUtil.compare("1", "1"), 0);
+        Assert.assertEquals(ClickHouseVersionNumberUtil.compare("21.3", "21.12"), -1);
+        Assert.assertEquals(ClickHouseVersionNumberUtil.compare("21 .3", "21. 12"), -1);
+        Assert.assertEquals(ClickHouseVersionNumberUtil.compare("21 .3", "21. 12-test"), -1);
+        Assert.assertEquals(ClickHouseVersionNumberUtil.compare("21.3", "21.1"), 1);
+        Assert.assertEquals(ClickHouseVersionNumberUtil.compare("21. 3", "21 .1"), 1);
+        Assert.assertEquals(ClickHouseVersionNumberUtil.compare("21. 3-test", "21 .1"), 1);
+        Assert.assertEquals(ClickHouseVersionNumberUtil.compare("18.16", "18.16.0"), 0);
+    }
 }