diff --git a/buildSrc/src/main/resources/checkstyle_suppressions.xml b/buildSrc/src/main/resources/checkstyle_suppressions.xml
index bb00f81c01bb1..b05a02af1ddd3 100644
--- a/buildSrc/src/main/resources/checkstyle_suppressions.xml
+++ b/buildSrc/src/main/resources/checkstyle_suppressions.xml
@@ -554,7 +554,6 @@
   <suppress files="server[/\\]src[/\\]test[/\\]java[/\\]org[/\\]elasticsearch[/\\]gateway[/\\]ReplicaShardAllocatorTests.java" checks="LineLength" />
   <suppress files="server[/\\]src[/\\]test[/\\]java[/\\]org[/\\]elasticsearch[/\\]gateway[/\\]ReusePeerRecoverySharedTest.java" checks="LineLength" />
   <suppress files="server[/\\]src[/\\]test[/\\]java[/\\]org[/\\]elasticsearch[/\\]get[/\\]GetActionIT.java" checks="LineLength" />
-  <suppress files="server[/\\]src[/\\]test[/\\]java[/\\]org[/\\]elasticsearch[/\\]index[/\\]IndexServiceTests.java" checks="LineLength" />
   <suppress files="server[/\\]src[/\\]test[/\\]java[/\\]org[/\\]elasticsearch[/\\]index[/\\]IndexingSlowLogTests.java" checks="LineLength" />
   <suppress files="server[/\\]src[/\\]test[/\\]java[/\\]org[/\\]elasticsearch[/\\]index[/\\]MergePolicySettingsTests.java" checks="LineLength" />
   <suppress files="server[/\\]src[/\\]test[/\\]java[/\\]org[/\\]elasticsearch[/\\]index[/\\]SearchSlowLogTests.java" checks="LineLength" />
diff --git a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/IndexServiceTests.java b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/IndexServiceTests.java
index 7f798f7bb875a..50719a1c3fed0 100644
--- a/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/IndexServiceTests.java
+++ b/server/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/index/IndexServiceTests.java
@@ -21,7 +21,6 @@
 
 import org.apache.lucene.search.MatchAllDocsQuery;
 import org.apache.lucene.search.TopDocs;
-import org.elasticsearch.cluster.metadata.IndexMetaData;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.Strings;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.compress.CompressedXContent;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
@@ -131,16 +130,16 @@ public void testRefreshTaskIsUpdated() throws IOException {
         assertTrue(indexService.getRefreshTask().mustReschedule());
 
         // now disable
-        IndexMetaData metaData = IndexMetaData.builder(indexService.getMetaData()).settings(Settings.builder().put(indexService.getMetaData().getSettings()).put(IndexSettings.INDEX_REFRESH_INTERVAL_SETTING.getKey(), -1)).build();
-        indexService.updateMetaData(metaData);
+        client().admin().indices().prepareUpdateSettings("test")
+            .setSettings(Settings.builder().put(IndexSettings.INDEX_REFRESH_INTERVAL_SETTING.getKey(), -1)).get();
         assertNotSame(refreshTask, indexService.getRefreshTask());
         assertTrue(refreshTask.isClosed());
         assertFalse(refreshTask.isScheduled());
         assertFalse(indexService.getRefreshTask().mustReschedule());
 
         // set it to 100ms
-        metaData = IndexMetaData.builder(indexService.getMetaData()).settings(Settings.builder().put(indexService.getMetaData().getSettings()).put(IndexSettings.INDEX_REFRESH_INTERVAL_SETTING.getKey(), "100ms")).build();
-        indexService.updateMetaData(metaData);
+        client().admin().indices().prepareUpdateSettings("test")
+            .setSettings(Settings.builder().put(IndexSettings.INDEX_REFRESH_INTERVAL_SETTING.getKey(),  "100ms")).get();
         assertNotSame(refreshTask, indexService.getRefreshTask());
         assertTrue(refreshTask.isClosed());
 
@@ -150,8 +149,8 @@ public void testRefreshTaskIsUpdated() throws IOException {
         assertEquals(100, refreshTask.getInterval().millis());
 
         // set it to 200ms
-        metaData = IndexMetaData.builder(indexService.getMetaData()).settings(Settings.builder().put(indexService.getMetaData().getSettings()).put(IndexSettings.INDEX_REFRESH_INTERVAL_SETTING.getKey(), "200ms")).build();
-        indexService.updateMetaData(metaData);
+        client().admin().indices().prepareUpdateSettings("test")
+            .setSettings(Settings.builder().put(IndexSettings.INDEX_REFRESH_INTERVAL_SETTING.getKey(), "200ms")).get();
         assertNotSame(refreshTask, indexService.getRefreshTask());
         assertTrue(refreshTask.isClosed());
 
@@ -161,8 +160,8 @@ public void testRefreshTaskIsUpdated() throws IOException {
         assertEquals(200, refreshTask.getInterval().millis());
 
         // set it to 200ms again
-        metaData = IndexMetaData.builder(indexService.getMetaData()).settings(Settings.builder().put(indexService.getMetaData().getSettings()).put(IndexSettings.INDEX_REFRESH_INTERVAL_SETTING.getKey(), "200ms")).build();
-        indexService.updateMetaData(metaData);
+        client().admin().indices().prepareUpdateSettings("test")
+            .setSettings(Settings.builder().put(IndexSettings.INDEX_REFRESH_INTERVAL_SETTING.getKey(), "200ms")).get();
         assertSame(refreshTask, indexService.getRefreshTask());
         assertTrue(indexService.getRefreshTask().mustReschedule());
         assertTrue(refreshTask.isScheduled());
@@ -174,7 +173,9 @@ public void testRefreshTaskIsUpdated() throws IOException {
     }
 
     public void testFsyncTaskIsRunning() throws IOException {
-        IndexService indexService = createIndex("test", Settings.builder().put(IndexSettings.INDEX_TRANSLOG_DURABILITY_SETTING.getKey(), Translog.Durability.ASYNC).build());
+        Settings settings = Settings.builder()
+            .put(IndexSettings.INDEX_TRANSLOG_DURABILITY_SETTING.getKey(), Translog.Durability.ASYNC).build();
+        IndexService indexService = createIndex("test", settings);
         IndexService.AsyncTranslogFSync fsyncTask = indexService.getFsyncTask();
         assertNotNull(fsyncTask);
         assertEquals(5000, fsyncTask.getInterval().millis());
@@ -197,8 +198,8 @@ public void testRefreshActuallyWorks() throws Exception {
         assertTrue(indexService.getRefreshTask().mustReschedule());
 
         // now disable
-        IndexMetaData metaData = IndexMetaData.builder(indexService.getMetaData()).settings(Settings.builder().put(indexService.getMetaData().getSettings()).put(IndexSettings.INDEX_REFRESH_INTERVAL_SETTING.getKey(), -1)).build();
-        indexService.updateMetaData(metaData);
+        client().admin().indices().prepareUpdateSettings("test")
+            .setSettings(Settings.builder().put(IndexSettings.INDEX_REFRESH_INTERVAL_SETTING.getKey(), -1)).get();
         client().prepareIndex("test", "test", "1").setSource("{\"foo\": \"bar\"}", XContentType.JSON).get();
         IndexShard shard = indexService.getShard(0);
         try (Engine.Searcher searcher = shard.acquireSearcher("test")) {
@@ -206,8 +207,8 @@ public void testRefreshActuallyWorks() throws Exception {
             assertEquals(0, search.totalHits);
         }
         // refresh every millisecond
-        metaData = IndexMetaData.builder(indexService.getMetaData()).settings(Settings.builder().put(indexService.getMetaData().getSettings()).put(IndexSettings.INDEX_REFRESH_INTERVAL_SETTING.getKey(), "1ms")).build();
-        indexService.updateMetaData(metaData);
+        client().admin().indices().prepareUpdateSettings("test")
+            .setSettings(Settings.builder().put(IndexSettings.INDEX_REFRESH_INTERVAL_SETTING.getKey(), "1ms")).get();
         assertBusy(() -> {
             try (Engine.Searcher searcher = shard.acquireSearcher("test")) {
                 TopDocs search = searcher.searcher().search(new MatchAllDocsQuery(), 10);
@@ -282,13 +283,11 @@ public void testAsyncTranslogTrimActuallyWorks() throws Exception {
         assertTrue(indexService.getRefreshTask().mustReschedule());
         client().prepareIndex("test", "test", "1").setSource("{\"foo\": \"bar\"}", XContentType.JSON).get();
         client().admin().indices().prepareFlush("test").get();
-        IndexMetaData metaData = IndexMetaData.builder(indexService.getMetaData()).settings(Settings.builder()
-            .put(indexService.getMetaData().getSettings())
-            .put(IndexSettings.INDEX_TRANSLOG_RETENTION_SIZE_SETTING.getKey(), -1)
-            .put(IndexSettings.INDEX_TRANSLOG_RETENTION_AGE_SETTING.getKey(), -1))
-        .build();
-        indexService.updateMetaData(metaData);
-
+        client().admin().indices().prepareUpdateSettings("test")
+            .setSettings(Settings.builder()
+                .put(IndexSettings.INDEX_TRANSLOG_RETENTION_SIZE_SETTING.getKey(), -1)
+                .put(IndexSettings.INDEX_TRANSLOG_RETENTION_AGE_SETTING.getKey(), -1))
+            .get();
         IndexShard shard = indexService.getShard(0);
         assertBusy(() -> assertThat(shard.estimateTranslogOperationsFromMinSeq(0L), equalTo(0)));
     }