* Add support for finalizers in federated configmaps (deletes configmaps from underlying clusters). ([#40464](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/40464), [@csbell](https://github.com/csbell))

### **Application Autoscaling**
#### Horizontal Pod Autoscaler

* Implement dynamic provisioning (beta) of PersistentVolumes via StorageClass ([#29006](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/29006), [@jsafrane](https://github.com/jsafrane))
* Allow setting permission mode bits on secrets, configmaps and downwardAPI files ([#28936](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/28936), [@rata](https://github.com/rata))

## Major Themes

- StatefulSets (ex-PetSets)
  - StatefulSets are beta now (fixes and stabilization)
- Improved Federation Support
  - New command: `kubefed`
  - DaemonSets
  - Deployments
  - ConfigMaps
- Simplified Cluster Deployment
  - Improvements to `kubeadm`
  - HA Setup for Master
- Node Robustness and Extensibility
  - Windows Server Container support
  - CRI for pluggable container runtimes

    - [CSI Volume health monitoring](#csi-volume-health-monitoring)
    - [General ephemeral volumes](#general-ephemeral-volumes)
    - [Immutable Secrets and ConfigMaps (beta)](#immutable-secrets-and-configmaps-beta)
    - [CSI Proxy for Windows](#csi-proxy-for-windows)
    - [Dashboard v2](#dashboard-v2)
    - [Windows containerd support graduates to beta](#windows-containerd-support-graduates-to-beta)

- Configmaps/extension-apiserver-authentication in kube-system is continuously updated by kube-apiservers, instead of just at apiserver start ([#82705](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/82705), [@deads2k](https://github.com/deads2k))

- Namespace editors and admins can now create leases.coordination.k8s.io and should use this type for leaderelection instead of configmaps. ([#111515](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/111515), [@deads2k](https://github.com/deads2k)) [SIG API Machinery and Auth]

`settings/v1alpha1`, and `scheduling/v1alpha1` APIs are disabled by default.

* The `system:node` role is no longer automatically granted to the `system:nodes` group in new clusters. The role gives broad read access to resources, including secrets and configmaps. Use the `Node` authorization mode to authorize the nodes in new clusters. To continue providing the `system:node` role to the members of the `system:nodes` group, create an installation-specific `ClusterRoleBinding` in the installation. ([#496...

- `--sync-frequency` will not affect the update interval of volumes that use `ConfigMaps`
  or `Secrets` when the `configMapAndSecretChangeDetectionStrategy` is set to `Cache`.

- Fixed dockershim panic issues when deleting docker images. ([#75367](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/75367), [@feiskyer](https://github.com/feiskyer))
- Kubelet no longer watches `ConfigMaps` and `Secrets` for terminated pods, in worst scenario causing it to not be able to send other requests to kube-apiserver ([#74809](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/74809), [@oxddr](https://github.com/oxddr))