diff --git a/plugin/ml-cpp-snapshot/build.gradle b/plugin/ml-cpp-snapshot/build.gradle
deleted file mode 100644
index 2be5c83f181..00000000000
--- a/plugin/ml-cpp-snapshot/build.gradle
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,124 +0,0 @@
-import com.amazonaws.AmazonServiceException
-import com.amazonaws.ClientConfiguration
-import com.amazonaws.auth.AWSCredentials
-import com.amazonaws.auth.BasicAWSCredentials
-import com.amazonaws.services.s3.AmazonS3Client
-import com.amazonaws.services.s3.model.S3Object
-import com.amazonaws.services.s3.model.ObjectMetadata
-import com.bettercloud.vault.Vault
-import com.bettercloud.vault.VaultConfig
-import com.bettercloud.vault.response.LogicalResponse
-import java.nio.file.Files
-import java.nio.file.attribute.PosixFilePermission
-import java.nio.file.attribute.PosixFilePermissions
-import org.elasticsearch.gradle.VersionProperties
-
-apply plugin: 'distribution'
-
-buildscript {
-  repositories {
-    mavenCentral()
-  }
-  dependencies {
-    classpath group: 'com.bettercloud', name: 'vault-java-driver', version:"1.1.0"
-    classpath 'com.amazonaws:aws-java-sdk-s3:1.10.33'
-    if (JavaVersion.current() > JavaVersion.VERSION_1_8) {
-      classpath 'com.sun.xml.bind:jaxb-impl:2.2.3-1' // pulled in as external dependency to work on java 9
-    }
-  }
-}
-
-ext.version = VersionProperties.elasticsearch
-
-// This project pulls a snapshot version of the ML cpp artifacts and sets that as the artifact
-// for this project so it can be used with dependency substitution. We do not use gradle's
-// handling of S3 as a maven repo due to the dynamically generated creds being slow to propagate,
-// necessitating retries.
-
-void checkJavaVersion() {
-  /**
-   * The Elastic Secrets vault is served via HTTPS with a Let's Encrypt certificate. The root certificates that cross-signed the Let's
-   * Encrypt certificates were not trusted by the JDK until 8u101. Therefore, we enforce that the JDK is at least 8u101 here.
-   */
-  final String javaVersion = System.getProperty('java.version')
-  final String javaVendor = System.getProperty('java.vendor')
-  def matcher = javaVersion =~ /1\.8\.0(?:_(\d+))?/
-  boolean matches = matcher.matches()
-  if (matches) {
-    final int update
-    if (matcher.group(1) == null) {
-      update = 0
-    } else {
-      update = matcher.group(1).toInteger()
-    }
-    if (update < 101) {
-      throw new GradleException("JDK ${javaVendor} ${javaVersion} does not have necessary root certificates " +
-              "(https://bugs.openjdk.java.net/browse/JDK-8154757), update your JDK to at least JDK 8u101+")
-    }
-  }
-}
-
-void getZip(File snapshotZip) {
-  final AmazonS3Client client = new AmazonS3Client()
-  final String key = "maven/org/elasticsearch/ml/ml-cpp/${version}/ml-cpp-${version}.zip"
-  int retries = 5 
-  while (retries > 0) {
-    try {
-      File snapshotMd5 = new File(snapshotZip.toString() + '.md5')
-      // do a HEAD first to check the zip hash against the local file
-      ObjectMetadata metadata = client.getObjectMetadata('prelert-artifacts', key)
-      String remoteMd5 = metadata.getETag()
-      if (snapshotZip.exists()) {
-        // do a HEAD first to check the zip hash against the local file
-        String localMd5 = snapshotMd5.getText('UTF-8')
-        if (remoteMd5.equals(localMd5)) {
-          logger.info('Using cached ML snapshot')
-          return
-        }
-      }
-      S3Object zip = client.getObject('prelert-artifacts', key)
-      InputStream zipStream = zip.getObjectContent()
-      try {
-        project.delete(snapshotZip, snapshotZip)
-        Files.copy(zipStream, snapshotZip.toPath())
-      } finally {
-        zipStream.close()
-      }
-      snapshotMd5.setText(remoteMd5, 'UTF-8')
-      return
-    } catch (AmazonServiceException e) {
-      if (e.getStatusCode() != 403) {
-        throw new GradleException('Error while trying to get ml-cpp snapshot: ' + e.getMessage(), e)
-      }
-      sleep(500)
-      retries--
-    }
-  }
-  throw new GradleException('Could not access ml-cpp artifacts. Timed out after 60 seconds')
-}
-
-File snapshotZip = new File(projectDir, ".cache/ml-cpp-${version}.zip")
-task downloadMachineLearningSnapshot {
-  onlyIf {
-    // skip if machine-learning-cpp is being built locally
-    findProject(':machine-learning-cpp') == null &&
-      // skip for offline builds - just rely on the artifact already having been downloaded before here
-      project.gradle.startParameter.isOffline() == false
-  }
-  doFirst {
-    snapshotZip.parentFile.mkdirs()
-    getZip(snapshotZip)
-  }
-}
-
-gradle.taskGraph.whenReady { taskGraph ->
-  // skip if machine-learning-cpp is being built locally and also for offline builds
-  if (findProject(':machine-learning-cpp') == null && project.gradle.startParameter.isOffline() == false) {
-    // do validation of token/java version up front, don't wait for the task to run
-    checkJavaVersion()
-  }
-}
-
-artifacts {
-  'default' file: snapshotZip, name: 'ml-cpp', type: 'zip', builtBy: downloadMachineLearningSnapshot
-}
diff --git a/plugin/ml/build.gradle b/plugin/ml/build.gradle
index e1a83aef374..9386633f3c4 100644
--- a/plugin/ml/build.gradle
+++ b/plugin/ml/build.gradle
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ configurations {
             if (findProject(':machine-learning-cpp') != null) {
                 substitute module("org.elasticsearch.ml:ml-cpp") with project(":machine-learning-cpp")
             } else {
-                substitute module("org.elasticsearch.ml:ml-cpp") with project("${project.parent.path}:ml-cpp-snapshot")
+                substitute module("org.elasticsearch.ml:ml-cpp") with project("${project.path}:cpp-snapshot")
             }
         }
     }
diff --git a/plugin/ml-cpp-snapshot/.gitignore b/plugin/ml/cpp-snapshot/.gitignore
similarity index 100%
rename from plugin/ml-cpp-snapshot/.gitignore
rename to plugin/ml/cpp-snapshot/.gitignore
diff --git a/plugin/ml/cpp-snapshot/build.gradle b/plugin/ml/cpp-snapshot/build.gradle
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..c2a396e72b2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/plugin/ml/cpp-snapshot/build.gradle
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+import java.net.HttpURLConnection
+import org.elasticsearch.gradle.VersionProperties
+
+apply plugin: 'distribution'
+
+ext.version = VersionProperties.elasticsearch
+
+// This project pulls a snapshot version of the ML cpp artifacts and sets that as the artifact
+// for this project so it can be used with dependency substitution.
+
+void getZip(File snapshotZip) {
+  String zipUrl = "http://prelert-artifacts.s3.amazonaws.com/maven/org/elasticsearch/ml/ml-cpp/${version}/ml-cpp-${version}.zip"
+  File snapshotMd5 = new File(snapshotZip.toString() + '.md5')
+  HttpURLConnection conn = (HttpURLConnection) new URL(zipUrl).openConnection();
+  
+  // do a HEAD first to check the zip hash against the local file
+  conn.setRequestMethod('HEAD');
+  if (conn.getResponseCode() != HttpURLConnection.HTTP_OK) {
+    throw new GradleException('ML cpp snapshot does not exist')
+  }
+
+  String remoteMd5 = conn.getHeaderField('ETag')
+  if (snapshotZip.exists()) {
+    // do a HEAD first to check the zip hash against the local file
+    String localMd5 = snapshotMd5.getText('UTF-8')
+    if (remoteMd5.equals(localMd5)) {
+      logger.info('Using cached ML snapshot')
+      return
+    }
+  }
+
+  snapshotZip.bytes = new URL(zipUrl).bytes
+  snapshotMd5.setText(remoteMd5, 'UTF-8')
+}
+
+File snapshotZip = new File(projectDir, ".cache/ml-cpp-${version}.zip")
+task downloadMachineLearningSnapshot {
+  onlyIf {
+    // skip if machine-learning-cpp is being built locally
+    findProject(':machine-learning-cpp') == null &&
+      // skip for offline builds - just rely on the artifact already having been downloaded before here
+      project.gradle.startParameter.isOffline() == false
+  }
+  doFirst {
+    snapshotZip.parentFile.mkdirs()
+    getZip(snapshotZip)
+  }
+}
+
+artifacts {
+  'default' file: snapshotZip, name: 'ml-cpp', type: 'zip', builtBy: downloadMachineLearningSnapshot
+}