* kubelet: updated logic of verifying a static critical pod. ([#75144](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/75144), [@Huang-Wei](https://github.com/Huang-Wei))
* Allow disable outbound SNAT when Azure standard load balancer is used together with outbound rules.  ([#75282](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/75282), [@feiskyer](https://github.com/feiskyer))

    val ping = peer.takeFrame()
    assertThat(ping.type).isEqualTo(Http2.TYPE_PING)
  }

  @Test fun serverWritesTrailersWithData() {
    // We buffer some outbound data and headers and confirm that the END_STREAM flag comes with the
    // headers (and not with the data).

    // Write the mocking script. for the client
    peer.setClient(true)

* Allow disable outbound SNAT when Azure standard load balancer is used together with outbound rules.  ([#75282](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/75282), [@feiskyer](https://github.com/feiskyer))

* Allow disable outbound SNAT when Azure standard load balancer is used together with outbound rules.  ([#75282](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/75282), [@feiskyer](https://github.com/feiskyer))

    - Shared PID namespace, live-restore, and overlay2 were validated.

    - **Known issues**

        - The default iptables FORWARD policy was changed from ACCEPT to
          DROP, which causes outbound container traffic to stop working by
          default. See
          [#40182](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/issues/40182) for
          the workaround.

* Ensure the backend pools are set correctly for Azure SLB with multiple backend pools (e.g. outbound rules) ([#76691](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/76691), [@feiskyer](https://github.com/feiskyer))

  boolean tooHigh(@ParametricNullness T t) {
    if (!hasUpperBound()) {
      return false;
    }
    // The cast is safe because of the hasUpperBound() check.
    T ubound = uncheckedCastNullableTToT(getUpperEndpoint());
    int cmp = comparator.compare(t, ubound);
    return cmp > 0 | (cmp == 0 & getUpperBoundType() == OPEN);
  }

  boolean contains(@ParametricNullness T t) {
    return !tooLow(t) && !tooHigh(t);
  }

  boolean tooHigh(@ParametricNullness T t) {
    if (!hasUpperBound()) {
      return false;
    }
    // The cast is safe because of the hasUpperBound() check.
    T ubound = uncheckedCastNullableTToT(getUpperEndpoint());
    int cmp = comparator.compare(t, ubound);
    return cmp > 0 | (cmp == 0 & getUpperBoundType() == OPEN);
  }

  boolean contains(@ParametricNullness T t) {
    return !tooLow(t) && !tooHigh(t);
  }

vSphere. ([#59328](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/59328), [@divyenpatel](https://github.com/divyenpatel))

* Emit number of bound and unbound persistent volumes as Metrics. This PR adds four kinds of Volume Metrics for kube-controller-manager: bound PVC numbers, unbound PVC numbers, bound PV numbers and unbound PV numbers. The PVC metrics use namespace as dimension and the PV metrics use StorageClassName as its dimension. With these metrics we can better monitor the use...

- Fixed a concurrent map access in `TopologyCache`'s `HasPopulatedHints` method. ([#118189](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/118189), [@Miciah](https://github.com/Miciah))
- Fixed a regression (`CLIENTSET_PKG: unbound variable`) when invoking deprecated `generate-groups.sh` script. ([#120877](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/pull/120877), [@soltysh](https://github.com/soltysh))