diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/node/Node.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/node/Node.java
index 04fc7e955655a..3caff62753050 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/node/Node.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/node/Node.java
@@ -128,14 +128,13 @@ public class Node implements Releasable {
      * @param preparedSettings Base settings to configure the node with
      */
     public Node(Settings preparedSettings) {
-        this(preparedSettings, Version.CURRENT, Collections.<Class<? extends Plugin>>emptyList());
+        this(InternalSettingsPreparer.prepareEnvironment(preparedSettings, null), Version.CURRENT, Collections.<Class<? extends Plugin>>emptyList());
     }
 
-    Node(Settings preparedSettings, Version version, Collection<Class<? extends Plugin>> classpathPlugins) {
-        final Settings pSettings = settingsBuilder().put(preparedSettings)
-                .put(Client.CLIENT_TYPE_SETTING, CLIENT_TYPE).build();
-        Environment tmpEnv = InternalSettingsPreparer.prepareEnvironment(pSettings, null);
-        Settings tmpSettings = TribeService.processSettings(tmpEnv.settings());
+    protected Node(Environment tmpEnv, Version version, Collection<Class<? extends Plugin>> classpathPlugins) {
+        Settings tmpSettings = settingsBuilder().put(tmpEnv.settings())
+            .put(Client.CLIENT_TYPE_SETTING, CLIENT_TYPE).build();
+        tmpSettings = TribeService.processSettings(tmpSettings);
 
         ESLogger logger = Loggers.getLogger(Node.class, tmpSettings.get("name"));
         logger.info("version[{}], pid[{}], build[{}/{}]", version, JvmInfo.jvmInfo().pid(), Build.CURRENT.shortHash(), Build.CURRENT.date());
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/tribe/TribeClientNode.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/tribe/TribeClientNode.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..688dfe5a92d17
--- /dev/null
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/tribe/TribeClientNode.java
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to Elasticsearch under one or more contributor
+ * license agreements. See the NOTICE file distributed with
+ * this work for additional information regarding copyright
+ * ownership. Elasticsearch licenses this file to you under
+ * the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may
+ * not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+
+package org.elasticsearch.tribe;
+
+import org.elasticsearch.Version;
+import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
+import org.elasticsearch.env.Environment;
+import org.elasticsearch.node.Node;
+import org.elasticsearch.plugins.Plugin;
+
+import java.util.Collections;
+
+/**
+ * An internal node that connects to a remove cluster, as part of a tribe node.
+ */
+class TribeClientNode extends Node {
+    TribeClientNode(Settings settings) {
+        super(new Environment(settings), Version.CURRENT, Collections.<Class<? extends Plugin>>emptyList());
+    }
+}
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/tribe/TribeService.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/tribe/TribeService.java
index 87da13fad4a59..343606e780577 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/tribe/TribeService.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/tribe/TribeService.java
@@ -132,14 +132,15 @@ public TribeService(Settings settings, ClusterService clusterService, DiscoveryS
         nodesSettings.remove("on_conflict"); // remove prefix settings that don't indicate a client
         for (Map.Entry<String, Settings> entry : nodesSettings.entrySet()) {
             Settings.Builder sb = Settings.builder().put(entry.getValue());
-            sb.put("node.name", settings.get("name") + "/" + entry.getKey());
+            sb.put("name", settings.get("name") + "/" + entry.getKey());
             sb.put("path.home", settings.get("path.home")); // pass through ES home dir
             sb.put(TRIBE_NAME, entry.getKey());
             sb.put(InternalSettingsPreparer.IGNORE_SYSTEM_PROPERTIES_SETTING, true);
             if (sb.get("http.enabled") == null) {
                 sb.put("http.enabled", false);
             }
-            nodes.add(NodeBuilder.nodeBuilder().settings(sb).client(true).build());
+            sb.put("node.client", true);
+            nodes.add(new TribeClientNode(sb.build()));
         }
 
         String[] blockIndicesWrite = Strings.EMPTY_ARRAY;
diff --git a/qa/evil-tests/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/tribe/TribeUnitTests.java b/qa/evil-tests/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/tribe/TribeUnitTests.java
index c13b91b159a56..f25bd87db196a 100644
--- a/qa/evil-tests/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/tribe/TribeUnitTests.java
+++ b/qa/evil-tests/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/tribe/TribeUnitTests.java
@@ -54,13 +54,12 @@ public class TribeUnitTests extends ESTestCase {
     @BeforeClass
     public static void createTribes() {
         Settings baseSettings = Settings.builder()
-            .put(InternalSettingsPreparer.IGNORE_SYSTEM_PROPERTIES_SETTING, true)
             .put("http.enabled", false)
             .put("node.mode", NODE_MODE)
             .put("path.home", createTempDir()).build();
 
-        tribe1 = NodeBuilder.nodeBuilder().settings(Settings.builder().put(baseSettings).put("cluster.name", "tribe1").put("node.name", "tribe1_node")).node();
-        tribe2 = NodeBuilder.nodeBuilder().settings(Settings.builder().put(baseSettings).put("cluster.name", "tribe2").put("node.name", "tribe2_node")).node();
+        tribe1 = new TribeClientNode(Settings.builder().put(baseSettings).put("cluster.name", "tribe1").put("name", "tribe1_node").build()).start();
+        tribe2 = new TribeClientNode(Settings.builder().put(baseSettings).put("cluster.name", "tribe2").put("name", "tribe2_node").build()).start();
     }
 
     @AfterClass
diff --git a/test-framework/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/node/MockNode.java b/test-framework/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/node/MockNode.java
index c5592fef48d30..57dcc08f4fe6c 100644
--- a/test-framework/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/node/MockNode.java
+++ b/test-framework/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/node/MockNode.java
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
 
 import org.elasticsearch.Version;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
+import org.elasticsearch.node.internal.InternalSettingsPreparer;
 import org.elasticsearch.plugins.Plugin;
 
 import java.util.Collection;
@@ -39,7 +40,7 @@ public class MockNode extends Node {
     private Collection<Class<? extends Plugin>> plugins;
 
     public MockNode(Settings settings, Version version, Collection<Class<? extends Plugin>> classpathPlugins) {
-        super(settings, version, classpathPlugins);
+        super(InternalSettingsPreparer.prepareEnvironment(settings, null), version, classpathPlugins);
         this.version = version;
         this.plugins = classpathPlugins;
     }