diff --git a/backend/src/main/groovy/edu/internet2/tier/shibboleth/admin/ui/service/JPAMetadataResolverServiceImpl.groovy b/backend/src/main/groovy/edu/internet2/tier/shibboleth/admin/ui/service/JPAMetadataResolverServiceImpl.groovy
index e31620d18..e8c074930 100644
--- a/backend/src/main/groovy/edu/internet2/tier/shibboleth/admin/ui/service/JPAMetadataResolverServiceImpl.groovy
+++ b/backend/src/main/groovy/edu/internet2/tier/shibboleth/admin/ui/service/JPAMetadataResolverServiceImpl.groovy
@@ -105,11 +105,6 @@ class JPAMetadataResolverServiceImpl implements MetadataResolverService {
                                 'xsi:type': 'RequiredValidUntil',
                                 'maxValidityInterval': 'P14D'
                         )
-                        MetadataFilter(
-                                'xsi:type': 'EntityRoleWhiteList'
-                        ) {
-                            RetainedRole('md:SPSSODescriptor')
-                        }
                         //TODO: enhance
                         mr.metadataFilters.each { edu.internet2.tier.shibboleth.admin.ui.domain.filters.MetadataFilter filter ->
                             constructFilterXmlNode(filter, delegate)
diff --git a/backend/src/test/groovy/edu/internet2/tier/shibboleth/admin/ui/service/IncommonJPAMetadataResolverServiceImplTests.groovy b/backend/src/test/groovy/edu/internet2/tier/shibboleth/admin/ui/service/IncommonJPAMetadataResolverServiceImplTests.groovy
index a9e5aa638..bc32cc580 100644
--- a/backend/src/test/groovy/edu/internet2/tier/shibboleth/admin/ui/service/IncommonJPAMetadataResolverServiceImplTests.groovy
+++ b/backend/src/test/groovy/edu/internet2/tier/shibboleth/admin/ui/service/IncommonJPAMetadataResolverServiceImplTests.groovy
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import edu.internet2.tier.shibboleth.admin.ui.domain.filters.EntityAttributesFil
 import edu.internet2.tier.shibboleth.admin.ui.domain.filters.EntityAttributesFilterTarget
 import edu.internet2.tier.shibboleth.admin.ui.opensaml.OpenSamlObjects
 import edu.internet2.tier.shibboleth.admin.ui.repository.MetadataResolverRepository
+import edu.internet2.tier.shibboleth.admin.ui.util.TestHelpers
 import edu.internet2.tier.shibboleth.admin.util.AttributeUtility
 import org.opensaml.saml.metadata.resolver.ChainingMetadataResolver
 import org.opensaml.saml.metadata.resolver.MetadataResolver
@@ -22,6 +23,8 @@ import org.xmlunit.builder.DiffBuilder
 import org.xmlunit.builder.Input
 import spock.lang.Specification
 
+import static edu.internet2.tier.shibboleth.admin.ui.util.TestHelpers.*
+
 @SpringBootTest
 @DataJpaTest
 @ContextConfiguration(classes = [CoreShibUiConfiguration, SearchConfiguration])
@@ -43,7 +46,7 @@ class IncommonJPAMetadataResolverServiceImplTests extends Specification {
         def output = metadataResolverService.generateConfiguration()
 
         then:
-        assert !DiffBuilder.compare(Input.fromStream(this.class.getResourceAsStream('/conf/278.xml'))).withTest(Input.fromDocument(output)).ignoreComments().ignoreWhitespace().build().hasDifferences()
+        assert generatedXmlTheSameAsExpectedXml('/conf/278.xml', output)
     }
 
     def 'test generation of metadata-providers.xml with filters'() {
@@ -70,7 +73,7 @@ class IncommonJPAMetadataResolverServiceImplTests extends Specification {
         def output = metadataResolverService.generateConfiguration()
 
         then:
-        assert !DiffBuilder.compare(Input.fromStream(this.class.getResourceAsStream('/conf/278.2.xml'))).withTest(Input.fromDocument(output)).ignoreComments().ignoreWhitespace().build().hasDifferences()
+        assert generatedXmlTheSameAsExpectedXml('/conf/278.2.xml', output)
     }
 
     //TODO: check that this configuration is sufficient
diff --git a/backend/src/test/groovy/edu/internet2/tier/shibboleth/admin/ui/service/JPAMetadataResolverServiceImplTests.groovy b/backend/src/test/groovy/edu/internet2/tier/shibboleth/admin/ui/service/JPAMetadataResolverServiceImplTests.groovy
index e9dc3c390..fc24d7a21 100644
--- a/backend/src/test/groovy/edu/internet2/tier/shibboleth/admin/ui/service/JPAMetadataResolverServiceImplTests.groovy
+++ b/backend/src/test/groovy/edu/internet2/tier/shibboleth/admin/ui/service/JPAMetadataResolverServiceImplTests.groovy
@@ -111,43 +111,27 @@ class JPAMetadataResolverServiceImplTests extends Specification {
         !diff.hasDifferences()
     }
 
-    def 'test generating filter xml snippet'() {
+    def 'test generating EntityRoleWhitelistFilter xml snippet'() {
         given:
         def xml = new MarkupBuilder()
         def filter = testObjectGenerator.entityRoleWhitelistFilter()
 
         when:
-        xml.MetadataProvider(id: 'ShibbolethMetadata',
-                xmlns: 'urn:mace:shibboleth:2.0:metadata',
-                'xmlns:xsi': 'http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance',
-                'xsi:type': 'ChainingMetadataProvider',
-                'xsi:schemaLocation': 'urn:mace:shibboleth:2.0:metadata http://shibboleth.net/schema/idp/shibboleth-metadata.xsd urn:mace:shibboleth:2.0:resource http://shibboleth.net/schema/idp/shibboleth-resource.xsd urn:mace:shibboleth:2.0:security http://shibboleth.net/schema/idp/shibboleth-security.xsd urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:metadata http://docs.oasis-open.org/security/saml/v2.0/saml-schema-metadata-2.0.xsd urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:assertion http://docs.oasis-open.org/security/saml/v2.0/saml-schema-assertion-2.0.xsd'
-        ) {
-            MetadataProvider(id: 'HTTPMetadata',
-                    'xsi:type': 'FileBackedHTTPMetadataProvider',
-                    backingFile: '%{idp.home}/metadata/incommonmd.xml',
-                    metadataURL: 'http://md.incommon.org/InCommon/InCommon-metadata.xml',
-                    minRefreshDelay: 'PT5M',
-                    maxRefreshDelay: 'PT1H',
-                    refreshDelayFactor: '0.75'
-            ) {
-                genXmlSnippet(filter, delegate)
-            }
-        }
+        genXmlSnippet(xml) { JPAMetadataResolverServiceImpl.cast(metadataResolverService).constructFilterXmlNode(filter, it) }
         println xml.toString()
 
         then:
         xml
     }
 
-    private genXmlSnippet(EntityRoleWhiteListFilter filter, xmlDelegate) {
-        xmlDelegate.MetadataFilter(
-                'xsi:type': 'EntityRoleWhiteList',
-                'xmlns:md': 'urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:metadata'
+    static genXmlSnippet(MarkupBuilder xml, Closure xmlNodeGenerator) {
+        xml.MetadataProvider(id: 'ShibbolethMetadata',
+                xmlns: 'urn:mace:shibboleth:2.0:metadata',
+                'xmlns:xsi': 'http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance',
+                'xsi:type': 'ChainingMetadataProvider',
+                'xsi:schemaLocation': 'urn:mace:shibboleth:2.0:metadata http://shibboleth.net/schema/idp/shibboleth-metadata.xsd urn:mace:shibboleth:2.0:resource http://shibboleth.net/schema/idp/shibboleth-resource.xsd urn:mace:shibboleth:2.0:security http://shibboleth.net/schema/idp/shibboleth-security.xsd urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:metadata http://docs.oasis-open.org/security/saml/v2.0/saml-schema-metadata-2.0.xsd urn:oasis:names:tc:SAML:2.0:assertion http://docs.oasis-open.org/security/saml/v2.0/saml-schema-assertion-2.0.xsd'
         ) {
-            filter.retainedRoles.each {
-                xmlDelegate.RetainedRole(it)
-            }
+            xmlNodeGenerator(delegate)
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/backend/src/test/groovy/edu/internet2/tier/shibboleth/admin/ui/util/TestHelpers.groovy b/backend/src/test/groovy/edu/internet2/tier/shibboleth/admin/ui/util/TestHelpers.groovy
index 1a6a085e2..d235f9d06 100644
--- a/backend/src/test/groovy/edu/internet2/tier/shibboleth/admin/ui/util/TestHelpers.groovy
+++ b/backend/src/test/groovy/edu/internet2/tier/shibboleth/admin/ui/util/TestHelpers.groovy
@@ -2,6 +2,9 @@ package edu.internet2.tier.shibboleth.admin.ui.util
 
 import edu.internet2.tier.shibboleth.admin.ui.domain.frontend.RelyingPartyOverridesRepresentation
 import org.apache.commons.lang.StringUtils
+import org.w3c.dom.Document
+import org.xmlunit.builder.DiffBuilder
+import org.xmlunit.builder.Input
 
 /**
  * @author Bill Smith (wsmith@unicon.net)
@@ -22,4 +25,8 @@ class TestHelpers {
 
         return count
     }
+
+    static generatedXmlTheSameAsExpectedXml(String expectedXmlResource, Document generatedXml) {
+        !DiffBuilder.compare(Input.fromStream(this.class.getResourceAsStream(expectedXmlResource))).withTest(Input.fromDocument(generatedXml)).ignoreComments().ignoreWhitespace().build().hasDifferences()
+    }
 }
diff --git a/backend/src/test/resources/conf/278.2.xml b/backend/src/test/resources/conf/278.2.xml
index d8305ada3..7b8718caf 100644
--- a/backend/src/test/resources/conf/278.2.xml
+++ b/backend/src/test/resources/conf/278.2.xml
@@ -18,9 +18,6 @@
         <MetadataFilter xsi:type="SignatureValidation" requireSignedRoot="true"
                         certificateFile="%{idp.home}/credentials/inc-md-cert.pem" />
         <MetadataFilter xsi:type="RequiredValidUntil" maxValidityInterval="P14D" />
-        <MetadataFilter xsi:type="EntityRoleWhiteList">
-            <RetainedRole>md:SPSSODescriptor</RetainedRole>
-        </MetadataFilter>
         <MetadataFilter xsi:type="EntityAttributes">
             <saml:Attribute Name="here">
                 <saml:AttributeValue>there</saml:AttributeValue>
diff --git a/backend/src/test/resources/conf/278.xml b/backend/src/test/resources/conf/278.xml
index e6e0e88d0..5d02714ff 100644
--- a/backend/src/test/resources/conf/278.xml
+++ b/backend/src/test/resources/conf/278.xml
@@ -18,9 +18,6 @@
         <MetadataFilter xsi:type="SignatureValidation" requireSignedRoot="true"
                         certificateFile="%{idp.home}/credentials/inc-md-cert.pem" />
         <MetadataFilter xsi:type="RequiredValidUntil" maxValidityInterval="P14D" />
-        <MetadataFilter xsi:type="EntityRoleWhiteList">
-            <RetainedRole>md:SPSSODescriptor</RetainedRole>
-        </MetadataFilter>
     </MetadataProvider>
 
 </MetadataProvider>