* StatefulSet: The deprecated `pod.alpha.kubernetes.io/initialized` annotation for interrupting the StatefulSet Pod management is now ignored. StatefulSets with this annotation set to `true` or with no value will behave just as they did in previous versions. Dormant StatefulSets with the annotation set to `false` will become active after upgrading.

### **Application Deployment**
#### StatefulSet
* [beta] StatefulSet supports [RollingUpdate](https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/workloads/controllers/statefulset/#rolling-updates) and [OnDelete](https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/workloads/controllers/statefulset/#on-delete) update strategies.

### StatefulSet

- Avoid creating new controller revisions for statefulsets when cache is stale ([#67039](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/67039), [@mortent](https://github.com/mortent))
- Fixes issue when updating a DaemonSet causes a hash collision. ([#66476](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/66476), [@mortent](https://github.com/mortent))

- Fix nil pointer dereference in azure cloud provider ([#85975](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/85975), [@ldx](https://github.com/ldx)) [SIG Cloud Provider]
- Fix regression in statefulset conversion which prevents applying a statefulset multiple times. ([#87706](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/87706), [@liggitt](https://github.com/liggitt)) [SIG Apps and Testing]

- Improved parsing of label selectors ([#102188](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/102188), [@alculquicondor](https://github.com/alculquicondor)) [SIG API Machinery]
- Introduce `minReadySeconds` api to the `StatefulSets`. ([#100842](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/100842), [@ravisantoshgudimetla](https://github.com/ravisantoshgudimetla))

- Added readiness gates in extended output for pods ([#70775](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/70775), [@freehan](https://github.com/freehan))
- Added `Ready` column and improve human-readable output of Deployments and StatefulSets ([#70466](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/70466), [@Pingan2017](https://github.com/Pingan2017))

- `kubectl rollout restart` now works for DaemonSets and StatefulSets. ([#77423](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/77423), [@apelisse](https://github.com/apelisse))

*   StatefulSet controller now creates a label for each Pod in a StatefulSet. The label is `statefulset.kubernetes.io/pod-name`, where `pod-name` = the name of the Pod. This allows users to create a Service per Pod to expose a connection to individual Pods. ([#55329](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/55329),[...

- `CSIMigrationvSphere` feature is now enabled by default.
   ([#103523](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/103523), [@divyenpatel](https://github.com/divyenpatel))
- `MaxUnavailable` for `StatefulSets`, allows faster `RollingUpdate` by taking down more than 1 pod at a time.
  The number of pods you want to take down during a `RollingUpdate` is configurable using `maxUnavailable` parameter.