diff --git a/shield/dev-tools/integration-tests.xml b/shield/dev-tools/integration-tests.xml
index 10532390e66..d8fdcb3c641 100644
--- a/shield/dev-tools/integration-tests.xml
+++ b/shield/dev-tools/integration-tests.xml
@@ -3,35 +3,17 @@
 
   <import file="${elasticsearch.integ.antfile.default}"/>
 
-  <property name="integ.args" value="
--Des.cluster.name=${integ.cluster.name}
--Des.http.port=${integ.http.port}
--Des.transport.tcp.port=${integ.transport.port}
--Des.pidfile=${integ.pidfile}
--Des.discovery.zen.ping.multicast.enabled=false
--Des.script.inline=on
--Des.script.indexed=on
--Des.repositories.url.allowed_urls=http://snapshot.test*
-  "/>
-
-
-  <!-- TODO shield redefines this because the wait for http will fail due to auth -->
-  <!-- TODO: remove this, its really fragile as shit -->
-  <macrodef name="startup-elasticsearch">
-    <attribute name="home" default="${integ.scratch}/elasticsearch-${elasticsearch.version}"/>
-    <attribute name="args" default="${integ.args}"/>
+  <!-- redefined to work with auth -->
+  <macrodef name="waitfor-elasticsearch">
+      <attribute name="port"/>
+      <attribute name="timeoutproperty"/>
     <sequential>
-      <echo>Starting up external cluster...</echo>
-      <run-script script="@{home}/bin/elasticsearch" spawn="true"
-                  args="@{args} -Des.path.repo=@{home}/repo" />
-
-      <waitfor maxwait="3" maxwaitunit="minute" checkevery="500">
-        <socket server="127.0.0.1" port="${integ.http.port}"/>
+      <echo>Waiting for elasticsearch to become available on port @{port}...</echo>
+      <waitfor maxwait="30" maxwaitunit="second"
+               checkevery="500" checkeveryunit="millisecond"
+               timeoutproperty="@{timeoutproperty}">
+        <socket server="127.0.0.1" port="@{port}"/>
       </waitfor>
-
-      <local name="integ.pid"/>
-      <extract-pid file="${integ.pidfile}" property="integ.pid"/>
-      <echo>External cluster started PID ${integ.pid}</echo>
     </sequential>
   </macrodef>
 
@@ -42,9 +24,10 @@
     <install-plugin name="${project.artifactId}" file="${project.build.directory}/releases/${project.artifactId}-${project.version}.zip"/>
     <run-script script="${home}/bin/shield/esusers" args="useradd test_user -p changeme -r admin"/>
     <startup-elasticsearch/>
-
+    <echo>Checking we can connect with basic auth on port ${integ.http.port}...</echo>
     <local name="temp.file"/>
     <tempfile property="temp.file" destdir="${java.io.tmpdir}"/>
-    <get src="http://127.0.0.1:${integ.http.port}" dest="${temp.file}" username="test_user" password="changeme" verbose="true" retries="10"/>
+    <get src="http://127.0.0.1:${integ.http.port}" dest="${temp.file}" 
+         username="test_user" password="changeme" verbose="true" retries="10"/>
   </target>
 </project>