- [v1.6.0](#v160)
  - [Downloads for v1.6.0](#downloads-for-v160)
    - [Client Binaries](#client-binaries-13)
    - [Server Binaries](#server-binaries-13)
  - [WARNING: etcd backup strongly recommended](#warning-etcd-backup-strongly-recommended)
  - [Major updates and release themes](#major-updates-and-release-themes)
  - [Action Required](#action-required-1)
    - [Certificates API](#certificates-api)

- Kubeadm: during execution of the "check expiration" command, treat the etcd CA as external if there is a missing etcd CA key file (etcd/ca.key) and perform the proper validation on certificates signed by the etcd CA. Additionally, make sure that the CA for all entries in the output table is included - for both certificates on disk and in kubeconfig files. ([#106923](https://github.com/kube...

### SIG Cluster Lifecycle

  * kubeadm: The `:Etcd` struct has been refactored in the v1alpha2 API. All the options now reside under either `.Etcd.Local` or `.Etcd.External`. Automatic conversions from the v1alpha1 API are supported. ([#64066](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/64066), [@luxas](https://github.com/luxas))

* Upgrade to etcd client 3.3.17 to fix bug where etcd client does not parse IPv6 addresses correctly when members are joining, and to fix bug where failover on multi-member etcd cluster fails certificate check on DNS mismatch ([#83801](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/83801), [@jpbetz](https://github.com/jpbetz))

- Fix an error when using external etcd but storing etcd certificates in the same folder with the same name used by kubeadm for local etcd certificates; for an older version of kubeadm, the workaround is to avoid file name used by kubeadm for local etcd. ([#80867](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/80867), [@fabriziopandini](https://github.com/fabriziopandini))

* When performing a GET then PUT, the kube-apiserver must write the canonical representation of the object to etcd if the current value does not match. That allows external agents to migrate content in etcd from one API version to another, across different storage types, or across varying encryption levels. This fixes a bug introduced in 1.5 where we unintentionally stopped writing the newest data. ([#483...

- Moved fluentd-elasticsearch addon images to community controlled location ([#73819](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/73819), [@coffeepac](https://github.com/coffeepac))
- Removed local etcd members from the etcd cluster when `kubeadm reset` ([#74112](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/74112), [@pytimer](https://github.com/pytimer))

Fixed a `1.27`+ regression in watch stability by serving watch requests without a `resourceVersion` from the watch cache by default, as in <`1.27` (disabling the change in PR 115096 by default). This mitigates the impact of an etcd watch bug (https://github.com/etcd-io/etcd/pull/17555). If the 1.27 change in PR 115096 to serve these requests from underlying storage is still desired despite the impact on watch stability, it can be re-enabled with a `WatchFromStorageWithoutResourceVersion` feature gate....

`ClusterStatus` struct present in the kubeadm-config ConfigMap is deprecated and will be removed in a future version. It is going to be maintained by kubeadm until it gets removed. The same information can be found on `etcd` and `kube-apiserver` pod annotations, `kubeadm.kubernetes.io/etcd.advertise-client-urls` and `kubeadm.kubernetes.io/kube-apiserver.advertise-address.endpoint` respectively. ([#87656](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/87656), [@ereslibre](https://github.com/ereslibre))...

- k8s-dns-node-cache image has been updated to v1.15.1 ([#76640](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/76640), [@george-angel](https://github.com/george-angel))

### Unchanged