diff --git a/client/rest-high-level/build.gradle b/client/rest-high-level/build.gradle
index 620268c9ec210..2eef1b4709bf4 100644
--- a/client/rest-high-level/build.gradle
+++ b/client/rest-high-level/build.gradle
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+import org.elasticsearch.gradle.test.RestIntegTestTask
+
 /*
  * Licensed to Elasticsearch under one or more contributor
  * license agreements. See the NOTICE file distributed with
@@ -103,11 +105,22 @@ File nodeTrustStore = file("./testnode.jks")
 File pkiTrustCert = file("./src/test/resources/org/elasticsearch/client/security/delegate_pki/testRootCA.crt")
 
 integTest.runner {
+  systemProperty 'tests.rest.async', 'false'
   systemProperty 'tests.rest.cluster.username', System.getProperty('tests.rest.cluster.username', 'test_user')
   systemProperty 'tests.rest.cluster.password', System.getProperty('tests.rest.cluster.password', 'test-password')
 }
 
-testClusters.integTest {
+RestIntegTestTask asyncIntegTest = tasks.create("asyncIntegTest", RestIntegTestTask) {
+  runner {
+    systemProperty 'tests.rest.async', 'true'
+    systemProperty 'tests.rest.cluster.username', System.getProperty('tests.rest.cluster.username', 'test_user')
+    systemProperty 'tests.rest.cluster.password', System.getProperty('tests.rest.cluster.password', 'test-password')
+  }
+}
+
+check.dependsOn(asyncIntegTest)
+
+testClusters.all {
   testDistribution = 'DEFAULT'
   systemProperty 'es.scripting.update.ctx_in_params', 'false'
   setting 'reindex.remote.whitelist', '[ "[::1]:*", "127.0.0.1:*" ]'
@@ -127,10 +140,10 @@ testClusters.integTest {
   setting 'indices.lifecycle.poll_interval', '1000ms'
   keystore 'xpack.security.transport.ssl.truststore.secure_password', 'testnode'
   extraConfigFile 'roles.yml', file('roles.yml')
-  user username:  System.getProperty('tests.rest.cluster.username', 'test_user'),
-          password:  System.getProperty('tests.rest.cluster.password', 'test-password'),
-          role:  System.getProperty('tests.rest.cluster.role', 'admin')
-  user username:  'admin_user', password: 'admin-password'
+  user username: System.getProperty('tests.rest.cluster.username', 'test_user'),
+          password: System.getProperty('tests.rest.cluster.password', 'test-password'),
+          role: System.getProperty('tests.rest.cluster.role', 'admin')
+  user username: 'admin_user', password: 'admin-password'
 
   extraConfigFile nodeCert.name, nodeCert
   extraConfigFile nodeTrustStore.name, nodeTrustStore
diff --git a/client/rest-high-level/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/client/ESRestHighLevelClientTestCase.java b/client/rest-high-level/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/client/ESRestHighLevelClientTestCase.java
index f758156c222a8..b54e4f2434ec7 100644
--- a/client/rest-high-level/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/client/ESRestHighLevelClientTestCase.java
+++ b/client/rest-high-level/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/client/ESRestHighLevelClientTestCase.java
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.action.search.SearchResponse;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.support.PlainActionFuture;
 import org.elasticsearch.client.indices.CreateIndexRequest;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.Booleans;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.bytes.BytesReference;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.util.concurrent.ThreadContext;
@@ -52,6 +53,7 @@
 public abstract class ESRestHighLevelClientTestCase extends ESRestTestCase {
 
     private static RestHighLevelClient restHighLevelClient;
+    private static boolean async = Booleans.parseBoolean(System.getProperty("tests.rest.async", "false"));
 
     @Before
     public void initHighLevelClient() throws IOException {
@@ -78,20 +80,20 @@ protected static <Req, Resp> Resp execute(Req request, SyncMethod<Req, Resp> syn
                                        AsyncMethod<Req, Resp> asyncMethod) throws IOException {
         return execute(request, syncMethod, asyncMethod, RequestOptions.DEFAULT);
     }
-    
+
     /**
      * Executes the provided request using either the sync method or its async variant, both provided as functions
      */
     protected static <Req, Resp> Resp execute(Req request, SyncMethod<Req, Resp> syncMethod,
                                        AsyncMethod<Req, Resp> asyncMethod, RequestOptions options) throws IOException {
-        if (randomBoolean()) {
+        if (async == false) {
             return syncMethod.execute(request, options);
         } else {
             PlainActionFuture<Resp> future = PlainActionFuture.newFuture();
             asyncMethod.execute(request, options, future);
             return future.actionGet();
         }
-    }    
+    }
 
     /**
      * Executes the provided request using either the sync method or its async
@@ -100,7 +102,7 @@ protected static <Req, Resp> Resp execute(Req request, SyncMethod<Req, Resp> syn
      */
     protected static <Resp> Resp execute(SyncMethodNoRequest<Resp> syncMethodNoRequest, AsyncMethodNoRequest<Resp> asyncMethodNoRequest,
             RequestOptions requestOptions) throws IOException {
-        if (randomBoolean()) {
+        if (async == false) {
             return syncMethodNoRequest.execute(requestOptions);
         } else {
             PlainActionFuture<Resp> future = PlainActionFuture.newFuture();
diff --git a/client/rest-high-level/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/client/documentation/LicensingDocumentationIT.java b/client/rest-high-level/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/client/documentation/LicensingDocumentationIT.java
index 0d8fe0a5cd9a7..c181fca44c64b 100644
--- a/client/rest-high-level/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/client/documentation/LicensingDocumentationIT.java
+++ b/client/rest-high-level/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/client/documentation/LicensingDocumentationIT.java
@@ -194,7 +194,7 @@ public void testGetLicense() throws Exception {
             //end::get-license-response
 
             assertThat(currentLicense, containsString("trial"));
-            assertThat(currentLicense, containsString("integTest"));
+            assertThat(currentLicense, containsString("ntegTest"));
         }
         {
             GetLicenseRequest request = new GetLicenseRequest();
@@ -233,7 +233,7 @@ public void onFailure(Exception e) {
             String currentLicense = response.getLicenseDefinition();
             assertThat(currentLicense, startsWith("{"));
             assertThat(currentLicense, containsString("trial"));
-            assertThat(currentLicense, containsString("integTest"));
+            assertThat(currentLicense, containsString("ntegTest"));
             assertThat(currentLicense, endsWith("}"));
         }
     }
diff --git a/client/rest-high-level/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/client/documentation/SnapshotClientDocumentationIT.java b/client/rest-high-level/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/client/documentation/SnapshotClientDocumentationIT.java
index 0213f32068c1d..5ac1222d7f175 100644
--- a/client/rest-high-level/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/client/documentation/SnapshotClientDocumentationIT.java
+++ b/client/rest-high-level/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/client/documentation/SnapshotClientDocumentationIT.java
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@
 import org.elasticsearch.client.indices.CreateIndexRequest;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.SnapshotsInProgress;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.metadata.RepositoryMetaData;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.Booleans;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.unit.TimeValue;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentType;
@@ -457,7 +458,12 @@ public void testSnapshotVerifyRepository() throws IOException {
         List<VerifyRepositoryResponse.NodeView> repositoryMetaDataResponse = response.getNodes();
         // end::verify-repository-response
         assertThat(1, equalTo(repositoryMetaDataResponse.size()));
-        assertThat("integTest-0", equalTo(repositoryMetaDataResponse.get(0).getName()));
+        final boolean async = Booleans.parseBoolean(System.getProperty("tests.rest.async", "false"));
+        if (async) {
+            assertThat("asyncIntegTest-0", equalTo(repositoryMetaDataResponse.get(0).getName()));
+        } else {
+            assertThat("integTest-0", equalTo(repositoryMetaDataResponse.get(0).getName()));
+        }
     }
 
     public void testSnapshotVerifyRepositoryAsync() throws InterruptedException {
diff --git a/modules/transport-netty4/build.gradle b/modules/transport-netty4/build.gradle
index 8483a7d2c00ea..9da97bd997073 100644
--- a/modules/transport-netty4/build.gradle
+++ b/modules/transport-netty4/build.gradle
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ TaskProvider<Test> pooledTest = tasks.register("pooledTest", Test) {
   systemProperty 'es.set.netty.runtime.available.processors', 'false'
   systemProperty 'es.use_unpooled_allocator', 'false'
 }
-// TODO: we can't use task avoidance here because RestIntegTestTask does the testcluster creation
+
 RestIntegTestTask pooledIntegTest = tasks.create("pooledIntegTest", RestIntegTestTask) {
   runner {
     systemProperty 'es.set.netty.runtime.available.processors', 'false'