([#113629](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/113629), [@andrewsykim](https://github.com/andrewsykim))
- 'The iptables kube-proxy backend now process service/endpoint changes
  more efficiently in very large clusters.' ([#110268](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/110268), [@danwinship](https://github.com/danwinship))
- '`CSIMigrationvSphere` was upgraded to GA and locked to true. Do not upgrade to K8s

user stories, such as the high availability use cases have been given priority for 1.15.

kubeadm, the cluster lifecycle building block, continues to receive features and stability work required for bootstrapping production clusters efficiently. kubeadm has promoted high availability (HA) capability to beta, allowing users to use the familiar `kubeadm init` and `kubeadm join` commands to [configure and deploy an HA control plane](https://kubernetes.io/docs/setup/production-environment...

inherent in its design. This PR exposes a second, independent pruning alpha powered by a new standard named `ApplySets`. An `ApplySet` is a server-side object (by default, a Secret; ConfigMaps are also allowed) that kubectl can use to accurately and efficiently track set membership across `apply` operations. The format used for `ApplySet` is set out in  [KEP 3659](https://github.com/kubernetes/enhancements/issues/3659) as a low-level specification.  Other tools in the ecosystem can also build on this specification...

- With the `KubeletCgroupDriverFromCRI` feature gate enabled and sufficiently new version of a container
  runtime, kubelet automatically detects the cgroup driver config from the container runtime, eliminating

- Improved the efficiency of NodeAdded QueueingHint by registering UpdateNodeTaint event for plugins that have NodeAdded event but don't have UpdateNodeTaint event. This ensures better requeuing efficiency and prevents Pods from being stuck in the unschedulable pod pool.

- Improved performance of kube-proxy with EndpointSlice enabled with more efficient sorting. ([#83035](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/83035), [@robscott](https://github.com/robscott))

- `scheduler`: handling of unschedulable pods because a `ResourceClass` is missing
  is a bit more efficient and no longer relies on periodic retries. ([#120213](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/120213), [@pohly](https://github.com/pohly))

## Dependencies

### Added
- cloud.google.com/go/dataproc/v2: v2.0.1

* kubeadm: explicitly wait for `etcd` to have grown when joining a new control plane ([#72984](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/72984), [@ereslibre](https://github.com/ereslibre))
* Improve efficiency of preemption logic in clusters with many pending pods. ([#72895](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/72895), [@bsalamat](https://github.com/bsalamat))

* Connections from Pods to Services with 0 endpoints will now ICMP reject immediately, rather than blackhole and timeout. ([#72534](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/72534), [@thockin](https://github.com/thockin))
* Improve efficiency of preemption logic in clusters with many pending pods. ([#72895](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/72895), [@bsalamat](https://github.com/bsalamat))

### SIG Multi-cluster (formerly known as SIG Federation)

[SIG Multi-cluster][] is responsible for infrastructure that supports
the efficient and reliable management of multiple Kubernetes clusters,
and applications that run in and across multiple clusters.

For the 1.8 release, SIG Multicluster focussed on expanding the set of