- HA improvements:
  - `kubeadm join --experimental-control-plane` can now be used to join control plane instances to an existing cluster.
  - `kubeadm upgrade node experimental-control-plane` can now be used for upgrading secondary control plane instances created with `kubeadm join --experimental-control-plane`.
Multi-arch support (EXPERIMENTAL):

- Restores priority of static control plane pods in the cluster/gce/manifests control-plane manifests ([#89970](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/89970), [@liggitt](https://github.com/liggitt)) [SIG Cluster Lifecycle and Node]

### Other (Cleanup or Flake)

### Changed
- cloud.google.com/go/compute: v1.19.0 → v1.19.1
- github.com/cncf/xds/go: [06c439d → e9ce688](https://github.com/cncf/xds/go/compare/06c439d...e9ce688)
- github.com/envoyproxy/go-control-plane: [v0.10.3 → 9239064](https://github.com/envoyproxy/go-control-plane/compare/v0.10.3...9239064)
- github.com/envoyproxy/protoc-gen-validate: [v0.9.1 → v0.10.1](https://github.com/envoyproxy/protoc-gen-validate/compare/v0.9.1...v0.10.1)

- Restores priority of static control plane pods in the cluster/gce/manifests control-plane manifests ([#89970](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/89970), [@liggitt](https://github.com/liggitt)) [SIG Cluster Lifecycle and Node]


# v1.18.1

* Make all e2e tests lookup image to use from a centralized place. In that centralized place, add support for multiple platforms. ([#49457](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/49457), [@mkumatag](https://github.com/mkumatag))

Kubeadm: Automate certificate copy between control planes in HA setups

- Joining control plane nodes to a HA cluster can now be simplified by enabling the optional automatic copy of certificates from an existing control plane node.
- You can now use `kubeadm init --experimental-upload-certs` and `kubeadm join --experimental-control-plane --certificate-key`.

release.  A new alpha feature is introduced to improve the mechanism that nodes heartbeat back to the control plane.  The `NodeLease` feature results in the node using a `Lease` resource in the `kube-node-lease` namespace that is renewed periodically.  The `NodeStatus` that was used previously to heartbeat back to the control plane is only updated when it changes.  This reduces load on the control plane for large clusters. The Kubelet plugin registration mechanism, which enables automatic discovery of external...

(N-3). This aligns with the recent change made by SIG Architecture that extends the support skew between the control plane and kubelets. Tolerate this new kubelet skew for the commands `init`, `join` and `upgrade`. Note that if the `kubeadm` user applies a control plane version that is older than the `kubeadm` version (N-1 maximum) then the skew between the kubelet and control plane would become a maximum of N-2. ([#120825](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/120825), [@pacoxu](https://github.com/pacoxu))...

 
## Changes by Kind

  - The `kubeadm upgrade node config` and `kubeadm upgrade node experimental-control-plane` commands are deprecated in favor of `kubeadm upgrade node`, and will be removed in a future release. ([#78408](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/78408), [@fabriziopandini](https://github.com/fabriziopandini))