Kubernetes 1.29 released with 11 new stable features, many more in alpha/beta

The Kubernetes release team has announced the release of Kubernetes 1.29, which includes nearly 50 improvements.

The theme of this release is Mandala, which the release team explains “reflects our community’s interconnectedness—a vibrant tapestry woven by enthusiasts and experts alike. Each contributor is a crucial part, adding their unique energy, much like the diverse patterns in Mandala art. Kubernetes thrives on collaboration, echoing the harmony in Mandala creations.”

Like always, the release notes categorize new features into Stable, Beta, and Alpha. There are 11 new Stable features, 19 new Beta features, and 19 new Alpha features.

Among the Stable features is a new ReadWriteOncePod PersistentVolume access mode, which ensures that a pod is the only pod in your whole cluster that can read or write to a PersistentVolumeClaim (PVC).

Another Stable feature is CSI Node Expand Secret, which allows a secret field to be sent with the NodeExpandVolumeRequest, allowing node volume expansion operations to be performed using the underlying storage system. 

Additionally, KMS v2 encryption for data at rest is enabled in this release, providing users with a more reliable solution for encrypting all of their Kubernetes resources. 

A number of features were also deprecated or removed in this release. These include removing in-tree integrations with cloud providers, removal of the v1beta2 flow control API group, and deprecation of the status.nodeInfo.kubeProxyVersion field. 

A full list of all the rest of the new features is available in the release notes. The Kubernetes release team will also be hosting a webinar on Friday, December 15th at 11 AM PT / 2 PM ET to discuss the changes in depth. 

The CNCF also recently announced it would be bringing a new Kubernetes management system called Karmada into the CNCF Incubator.

“Karmada fills gaps in several areas around scheduling and orchestration for multi-cloud and multi-cluster Kubernetes environments, which can provide better performance and lower costs for distributed organizations,” said Nikhita Raghunath, Technical Oversight Committee Sponsor for Karmada’s move to incubation. “Since joining the CNCF Sandbox, the project team has worked tirelessly to add new features and capabilities and to build integrations with the greater cloud native ecosystem. We look forward to seeing the project’s continued growth.”