* Fix clustered datastore name to be absolute. ([#54438](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/54438), [@pshahzeb](https://github.com/pshahzeb))
* Fix `kubeadm upgrade plan` for offline operation: ignore errors when trying to fetch latest versions from dl.k8s.io ([#54016](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/54016), [@praseodym](https://github.com/praseodym))

- Reduce event spam during a volume operation error. ([#89796](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/89796), [@msau42](https://github.com/msau42)) [SIG Storage]


# v1.18.0

[Documentation](https://docs.k8s.io)

## Downloads for v1.18.0

- For raw block CSI volumes on Kubernetes, kubelet was incorrectly calling CSI `NodeStageVolume` for every single "map" (i.e. raw block "mount") operation for a volume already attached to the node. This change modified that behavior to ensure it is only called once per volume per node. ([#112403](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/112403), [@akankshakumari393](https://github.com/akankshakumari393))...

- Apiserver adds two new metrics `etcd_requests_total` and `etcd_request_errors_total` that allow users to monitor requests to etcd storage, split by operation and resource type. ([#117222](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/117222), [@iyear](https://github.com/iyear)) [SIG API Machinery]

    or force deletion of the pod from the api-server).
    This helps prevent "split brain" scenarios in clustered applications by
    ensuring that unreachable pods will not be presumed dead unless some
    "fencing" operation has provided one of the above indications.
  * For all other existing controllers except StatefulSet, this has no effect on
    the ability of the controller to replace pods because the controllers do not

- Kubeadm: Add retries for kubeadm join / UpdateStatus to make update status more resilient by adding a retry loop to this operation ([#91952](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/91952), [@xlgao-zju](https://github.com/xlgao-zju)) [SIG Cluster Lifecycle]

- For raw block CSI volumes on Kubernetes, kubelet was incorrectly calling CSI NodeStageVolume for every single "map" (i.e. raw block "mount") operation for a volume already attached to the node. This PR ensures it is only called once per volume per node. ([#112403](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/112403), [@akankshakumari393](https://github.com/akankshakumari393)) [SIG Storage]

- Graduated the `CSINodeExpandSecret` feature to Beta. This feature facilitates passing secrets to CSI driver as part of Node Expansion CSI operation. ([#115621](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/115621), [@humblec](https://github.com/humblec))

etcd, has a new release 3.5.0 and the community embraced it. The new release comes with improvements to the Security, performance, monitoring and developer experience. There are numerous bug fixes to lease objects causing memory leaks, and compact operation causing deadlocks and more. A couple of new features are also introduced like the migration to structured logging and build in log rotation. The release comes with a detailed future roadmap to implement a solution to traffic overload. A full and...

- For raw block CSI volumes on Kubernetes, kubelet was incorrectly calling CSI NodeStageVolume for every single "map" (i.e. raw block "mount") operation for a volume already attached to the node. This PR ensures it is only called once per volume per node. ([#112403](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/112403), [@akankshakumari393](https://github.com/akankshakumari393)) [SIG Storage]