diff --git a/src/test/kotlin/org/opensearch/replication/ReplicationHelpers.kt b/src/test/kotlin/org/opensearch/replication/ReplicationHelpers.kt
index 6640f911..e538657e 100644
--- a/src/test/kotlin/org/opensearch/replication/ReplicationHelpers.kt
+++ b/src/test/kotlin/org/opensearch/replication/ReplicationHelpers.kt
@@ -325,7 +325,8 @@ fun RestHighLevelClient.waitForReplicationStop(index: String, waitFor : TimeValu
 fun RestHighLevelClient.updateAutoFollowPattern(connection: String, patternName: String, pattern: String,
                                                 settings: Settings = Settings.EMPTY,
                                                 useRoles: UseRoles = UseRoles(),
-                                                requestOptions: RequestOptions = RequestOptions.DEFAULT) {
+                                                requestOptions: RequestOptions = RequestOptions.DEFAULT,
+                                                ignoreIfExists: Boolean = false) {
     val lowLevelRequest = Request("POST", REST_AUTO_FOLLOW_PATTERN)
     if (settings == Settings.EMPTY) {
         lowLevelRequest.setJsonEntity("""{
@@ -350,9 +351,14 @@ fun RestHighLevelClient.updateAutoFollowPattern(connection: String, patternName:
                                      }""")
     }
     lowLevelRequest.setOptions(requestOptions)
-    val lowLevelResponse = lowLevelClient.performRequest(lowLevelRequest)
-    val response = getAckResponse(lowLevelResponse)
-    assertThat(response.isAcknowledged).isTrue()
+    try {
+        val lowLevelResponse = lowLevelClient.performRequest(lowLevelRequest)
+        val response = getAckResponse(lowLevelResponse)
+        assertThat(response.isAcknowledged).isTrue()
+    } catch (e: ResponseException) {
+        // Skip if ignoreIfExists is true and exception contains resource_already_exists_exception
+        if  ((ignoreIfExists == true && e.message?.contains("resource_already_exists_exception")!!) == false) throw e
+    }
 }
 
 fun RestHighLevelClient.AutoFollowStats() : Map<String, Any>  {
diff --git a/src/test/kotlin/org/opensearch/replication/integ/rest/UpdateAutoFollowPatternIT.kt b/src/test/kotlin/org/opensearch/replication/integ/rest/UpdateAutoFollowPatternIT.kt
index d1f884fe..a65bc348 100644
--- a/src/test/kotlin/org/opensearch/replication/integ/rest/UpdateAutoFollowPatternIT.kt
+++ b/src/test/kotlin/org/opensearch/replication/integ/rest/UpdateAutoFollowPatternIT.kt
@@ -376,7 +376,7 @@ class UpdateAutoFollowPatternIT: MultiClusterRestTestCase() {
                 // Add replication start block
                 followerClient.updateReplicationStartBlockSetting(true)
                 createRandomIndex(leaderClient)
-                followerClient.updateAutoFollowPattern(connectionAlias, indexPatternName, indexPattern)
+                followerClient.updateAutoFollowPattern(connectionAlias, indexPatternName, indexPattern, ignoreIfExists=true)
                 sleep(95000) // wait for auto follow trigger in the worst case
                 // verify both index replication tasks and autofollow tasks
                 // Replication shouldn't have been started - (repeat-1) tasks as for current loop index shouldn't be