- Kubeadm: the "kubeadm alpha certs" command is removed now, please use "kubeadm certs" instead. ([#97706](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/97706), [@knight42](https://github.com/knight42)) [SIG Cluster Lifecycle]

tes/pull/57902), [@kawych](https://github.com/kawych))

* On cluster provision or upgrade, kubeadm now generates certs and secures all connections to the etcd static-pod with mTLS. This includes the etcd serving cert, the etcd peer cert, and the apiserver etcd client cert. Flags and hostMounts are added to the etcd and apiserver static-pods to load these certs. For connections to etcd, https is now used in favor of http. ([#57415](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/57415),...

*   You can now use a new supported service annotation for AWS clusters, `service.beta.kubernetes.io/aws-load-balancer-ssl-negotiation-policy`, which lets you specify which [predefined AWS SSL policy](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/elasticloadbalancing/latest/classic/elb-security-policy-table.html) you would like to use. ([#54507](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/54507),[ @micahhausler](htt...

- Kubeadm: fix panic in the command "kubeadm certs check-expiration" when "/etc/kubernetes/pki" exists but cannot be read. ([#124124](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/124124), [@carlory](https://github.com/carlory)) [SIG Cluster Lifecycle]

- Update Azure load balancer to prevent orphaned public IP addresses ([#82890](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/82890), [@chewong](https://github.com/chewong))
### Cluster Lifecycle
- Kubeadm alpha certs command now skip missing files ([#85092](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/85092), [@fabriziopandini](https://github.com/fabriziopandini))

* Adds a new `kubeadm config` command that lets users tell `kubeadm upgrade` what kubeadm configuration to use and lets users view the current state. ([#50980](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/50980), [@luxas](https://github.com/luxas))

  - Some kubeadm commands are now allowed to work in a completely offline mode.
- Certificate handling improvements:
  - Renew certs as part of upgrade.
  - New `kubeadm alpha phase certs renew` command for renewing certificates.
  - Certificates created with kubeadm now have improved uniqueness of Distinguished Name fields.
- HA improvements:

- deprecate the usage of the experimental flag '--use-api' under the 'kubeadm alpha certs renew' command. ([#88827](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/88827), [@neolit123](https://github.com/neolit123)) [SIG Cluster Lifecycle]

- Kubeadm: fix panic in the command "kubeadm certs check-expiration" when "/etc/kubernetes/pki" exists but cannot be read. ([#124124](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/124124), [@carlory](https://github.com/carlory)) [SIG Cluster Lifecycle]

- Added option to create CSRs instead of certificates for kubeadm init phase certs and kubeadm alpha certs renew ([#70809](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/70809), [@liztio](https://github.com/liztio))