diff --git a/build-tools/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/gradle/testclusters/ElasticsearchCluster.java b/build-tools/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/gradle/testclusters/ElasticsearchCluster.java
index c68a9d252821..d3f7b21cff29 100644
--- a/build-tools/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/gradle/testclusters/ElasticsearchCluster.java
+++ b/build-tools/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/gradle/testclusters/ElasticsearchCluster.java
@@ -321,7 +321,12 @@ private void commonNodeConfig() {
         for (ElasticsearchNode node : nodes) {
             if (node.getTestDistribution().equals(TestDistribution.INTEG_TEST)) {
                 node.defaultConfig.put("xpack.security.enabled", "false");
+            } else {
+                if (node.getVersion().onOrAfter("8.0.0")) {
+                    node.defaultConfig.put("cluster.deprecation_indexing.enabled", "false");
+                }
             }
+
             // Can only configure master nodes if we have node names defined
             if (nodeNames != null) {
                 if (node.getVersion().onOrAfter("7.0.0")) {
diff --git a/build-tools/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/gradle/testclusters/ElasticsearchNode.java b/build-tools/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/gradle/testclusters/ElasticsearchNode.java
index 97d234dccb01..05ada3c5c312 100644
--- a/build-tools/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/gradle/testclusters/ElasticsearchNode.java
+++ b/build-tools/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/gradle/testclusters/ElasticsearchNode.java
@@ -103,7 +103,8 @@ public class ElasticsearchNode implements TestClusterConfiguration {
     private static final TimeUnit ADDITIONAL_CONFIG_TIMEOUT_UNIT = TimeUnit.SECONDS;
     private static final List<String> OVERRIDABLE_SETTINGS = Arrays.asList(
         "path.repo",
-        "discovery.seed_providers"
+        "discovery.seed_providers",
+        "cluster.deprecation_indexing.enabled"
 
     );
 
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/deprecation/qa/rest/build.gradle b/x-pack/plugin/deprecation/qa/rest/build.gradle
index 8904da0e5cdd..b2cf233921fc 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/deprecation/qa/rest/build.gradle
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/deprecation/qa/rest/build.gradle
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ restResources {
 
 testClusters.configureEach {
   testDistribution = 'DEFAULT'
+  setting 'cluster.deprecation_indexing.enabled', 'true'
   setting 'xpack.security.enabled', 'false'
   setting 'xpack.license.self_generated.type', 'trial'
 }
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/deprecation/qa/rest/src/javaRestTest/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/deprecation/DeprecationHttpIT.java b/x-pack/plugin/deprecation/qa/rest/src/javaRestTest/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/deprecation/DeprecationHttpIT.java
index 2249f087b2ba..2e464b60baaf 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/deprecation/qa/rest/src/javaRestTest/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/deprecation/DeprecationHttpIT.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/deprecation/qa/rest/src/javaRestTest/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/deprecation/DeprecationHttpIT.java
@@ -67,7 +67,6 @@ public class DeprecationHttpIT extends ESRestTestCase {
 
     @Before
     public void assertIndexingIsEnabled() throws Exception {
-        configureWriteDeprecationLogsToIndex(true);
 
         // make sure the deprecation logs indexing is enabled
         Response response = client().performRequest(new Request("GET", "/_cluster/settings?include_defaults=true&flat_settings=true"));
@@ -75,8 +74,8 @@ public void assertIndexingIsEnabled() throws Exception {
         ObjectMapper mapper = new ObjectMapper();
         final JsonNode jsonNode = mapper.readTree(response.getEntity().getContent());
 
-        final boolean transientValue = jsonNode.at("/transient/cluster.deprecation_indexing.enabled").asBoolean();
-        assertTrue(transientValue);
+        final boolean defaultValue = jsonNode.at("/defaults/cluster.deprecation_indexing.enabled").asBoolean();
+        assertTrue(defaultValue);
 
         // assert index does not exist, which will prevent previous tests to interfere
         assertBusy(() -> {
@@ -350,8 +349,6 @@ public void testDeprecationRouteThrottling() throws Exception {
     }
 
     public void testDisableDeprecationLogIndexing() throws Exception {
-
-        configureWriteDeprecationLogsToIndex(true);
         final Request deprecatedRequest = deprecatedRequest("GET", "xOpaqueId-testDisableDeprecationLogIndexing");
         assertOK(client().performRequest(deprecatedRequest));
         configureWriteDeprecationLogsToIndex(false);
diff --git a/x-pack/plugin/deprecation/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/deprecation/Deprecation.java b/x-pack/plugin/deprecation/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/deprecation/Deprecation.java
index b89ebd71c947..f0edba255993 100644
--- a/x-pack/plugin/deprecation/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/deprecation/Deprecation.java
+++ b/x-pack/plugin/deprecation/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/deprecation/Deprecation.java
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ public class Deprecation extends Plugin implements ActionPlugin {
 
     public static final Setting<Boolean> WRITE_DEPRECATION_LOGS_TO_INDEX = Setting.boolSetting(
         "cluster.deprecation_indexing.enabled",
-        false,
+        true,
         Setting.Property.NodeScope,
         Setting.Property.Dynamic
     );
@@ -98,12 +98,12 @@ public Collection<Object> createComponents(
 
         final RateLimitingFilter rateLimitingFilterForIndexing = new RateLimitingFilter();
         // enable on start.
-        rateLimitingFilterForIndexing.setUseXOpaqueId(USE_X_OPAQUE_ID_IN_FILTERING.getDefault(environment.settings()));
+        rateLimitingFilterForIndexing.setUseXOpaqueId(USE_X_OPAQUE_ID_IN_FILTERING.get(environment.settings()));
 
         final DeprecationIndexingComponent component = new DeprecationIndexingComponent(client,
             environment.settings(),
             rateLimitingFilterForIndexing,
-            WRITE_DEPRECATION_LOGS_TO_INDEX.getDefault(environment.settings()) //pass the default on startup
+            WRITE_DEPRECATION_LOGS_TO_INDEX.get(environment.settings()) //pass the default on startup
         );
 
         clusterService.getClusterSettings().addSettingsUpdateConsumer(USE_X_OPAQUE_ID_IN_FILTERING,