diff --git a/buildSrc/src/main/resources/checkstyle_suppressions.xml b/buildSrc/src/main/resources/checkstyle_suppressions.xml
index 2aa72f0fa7a1c..609a7cf2ea66f 100644
--- a/buildSrc/src/main/resources/checkstyle_suppressions.xml
+++ b/buildSrc/src/main/resources/checkstyle_suppressions.xml
@@ -535,7 +535,6 @@
   <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 4dc6a859a5c5a..28fa440d96ac2 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());
@@ -198,12 +199,10 @@ public void testRefreshActuallyWorks() throws Exception {
         IndexShard shard = indexService.getShard(0);
         client().prepareIndex("test", "test", "0").setSource("{\"foo\": \"bar\"}", XContentType.JSON).get();
         // now disable the refresh
-        IndexMetaData metaData = IndexMetaData.builder(indexService.getMetaData())
-            .settings(Settings.builder().put(indexService.getMetaData().getSettings())
-                .put(IndexSettings.INDEX_REFRESH_INTERVAL_SETTING.getKey(), -1)).build();
+        client().admin().indices().prepareUpdateSettings("test")
+            .setSettings(Settings.builder().put(IndexSettings.INDEX_REFRESH_INTERVAL_SETTING.getKey(), -1)).get();
         // when we update we reschedule the existing task AND fire off an async refresh to make sure we make everything visible
         // before that this is why we need to wait for the refresh task to be unscheduled and the first doc to be visible
-        indexService.updateMetaData(metaData);
         assertTrue(refreshTask.isClosed());
         refreshTask = indexService.getRefreshTask();
         assertBusy(() -> {
@@ -217,10 +216,8 @@ public void testRefreshActuallyWorks() throws Exception {
         assertFalse(refreshTask.isClosed());
         // refresh every millisecond
         client().prepareIndex("test", "test", "1").setSource("{\"foo\": \"bar\"}", XContentType.JSON).get();
-        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();
         assertTrue(refreshTask.isClosed());
         assertBusy(() -> {
             // this one becomes visible due to the force refresh we are running on updateMetaData if the interval changes
@@ -303,13 +300,11 @@ 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)));
     }