Kubernetes 1.30 Release Notes: What Changed

Kubernetes 1.30 Release Notes

Kubernetes 1.30, codenamed "Uwubernetes," was released in April 2024. This release focuses on service mesh integration, enhanced networking capabilities, improved observability, and performance optimizations.

Release Overview

Release Date: April 17, 2024
Codename: Uwubernetes
Theme: Enhanced connectivity and observability

Major Features and Enhancements

1. Enhanced Service Mesh Integration

Improved support for service mesh technologies with better native integration.

What Changed:

  • Better integration with Istio, Linkerd, and other service meshes
  • Enhanced Gateway API support
  • Improved sidecar injection mechanisms
  • Better mesh traffic management

Benefits:

  • Seamless service mesh integration
  • Better traffic routing and security
  • Enhanced observability across mesh
  • Improved performance

2. Gateway API Enhancements

Continued evolution of the Gateway API as the successor to Ingress.

New Features:

  • Enhanced Gateway API resources
  • Better multi-cluster gateway support
  • Improved TLS configuration
  • Enhanced traffic splitting capabilities

Example:

apiVersion: gateway.networking.k8s.io/v1
kind: Gateway
metadata:
  name: my-gateway
spec:
  gatewayClassName: istio
  listeners:
  - name: http
    protocol: HTTP
    port: 80
  - name: https
    protocol: HTTPS
    port: 443
    tls:
      mode: Terminate
      certificateRefs:
      - name: my-cert

3. Enhanced Networking Capabilities

Improved networking features for better connectivity and performance.

Enhancements:

  • Better CNI plugin support
  • Enhanced network policy performance
  • Improved service discovery
  • Better IPv6 support

4. Improved Observability

Enhanced observability features throughout the platform.

New Capabilities:

  • Better metrics collection
  • Enhanced tracing support
  • Improved logging aggregation
  • Better API server tracing

Observability Improvements:

  • Structured logging enhancements
  • Better metrics export
  • Enhanced distributed tracing
  • Improved debugging capabilities

5. Performance Optimizations

Significant performance improvements across multiple components.

Areas Improved:

  • API server response times
  • Scheduler performance
  • etcd efficiency
  • Network policy enforcement speed
  • Resource allocation speed

6. Enhanced Security Features

Continued focus on security improvements.

Security Enhancements:

  • Better RBAC performance
  • Enhanced pod security standards
  • Improved secret management
  • Better network security policies
  • Enhanced audit logging

Deprecations and Removals

Deprecated Features

  1. Additional Beta APIs: More beta APIs marked for deprecation

    • Continue migration to stable APIs
    • Deprecation warnings in logs and kubectl output

  2. Legacy Ingress Features: Some Ingress features deprecated in favor of Gateway API

    • Plan migration to Gateway API
    • Review Ingress controller compatibility

Removed Features

Features deprecated in previous releases have been removed:

  • Old API versions from 1.27/1.28 deprecations
  • Legacy configurations
  • Deprecated flags and options

Breaking Changes

API Changes

Required Actions:

  • Update any remaining deprecated API versions
  • Review Custom Resource Definitions
  • Update operators and controllers
  • Test all API interactions
# Comprehensive API audit
kubectl get all --all-namespaces -o yaml | grep -E "apiVersion.*beta"
kubectl api-resources --verbs=list --namespaced -o name | xargs -n 1 kubectl get --show-kind --ignore-not-found --all-namespaces

Behavior Changes

  1. Service Mesh: Enhanced integration may require configuration updates
  2. Gateway API: Expanded capabilities may affect Ingress migrations
  3. Networking: Performance improvements may change resource usage patterns
  4. Observability: Enhanced metrics may expose additional data

Upgrade Considerations

Pre-Upgrade Checklist

  • Audit all API versions in use
  • Review Ingress to Gateway API migration status
  • Test service mesh integration (if using)
  • Update kubectl to 1.30
  • Verify tool compatibility
  • Review network policies
  • Check observability tool compatibility
  • Test in non-production environment

Upgrade Process

# 1. Complete cluster backup
kubectl get all --all-namespaces -o yaml > backup-1.30-pre.yaml
kubectl get secrets --all-namespaces -o yaml > secrets-backup.yaml

# 2. Verify current state
kubectl version --short
kubectl get nodes
kubectl get pods --all-namespaces | grep -v Running

# 3. Update client tools
# Ensure kubectl is 1.30

# 4. Follow provider-specific upgrade process
# AWS EKS, GCP GKE, Azure AKS have specific procedures

# 5. Post-upgrade verification
kubectl get nodes
kubectl get pods --all-namespaces
kubectl get services --all-namespaces

Post-Upgrade Verification

Cluster Health:

kubectl get componentstatuses
kubectl get nodes -o wide
kubectl top nodes

Application Status:

kubectl get pods --all-namespaces --field-selector=status.phase!=Running
kubectl get events --all-namespaces --sort-by='.lastTimestamp' | tail -20

Network Connectivity:

kubectl get svc --all-namespaces
kubectl get ingress --all-namespaces
kubectl get gateway --all-namespaces

Notable Improvements

Service Mesh Integration

  • Native support for service mesh sidecar injection
  • Better Gateway API and service mesh coordination
  • Enhanced mesh traffic management
  • Improved observability across mesh boundaries

Networking Enhancements

  • Faster network policy enforcement
  • Better CNI plugin integration
  • Enhanced IPv6 dual-stack support
  • Improved service discovery performance

Observability Improvements

  • Better structured logging
  • Enhanced metrics export
  • Improved tracing capabilities
  • Better debugging tools

Performance Gains

  • 10-15% faster API server response times
  • Improved scheduler throughput
  • Better etcd performance
  • Enhanced resource allocation speed

Migration Guide

From 1.29 to 1.30

  1. API Version Updates:

    # Find deprecated APIs
kubectl get all --all-namespaces -o yaml > manifests.yaml
# Review and update all apiVersion fields

  2. Service Mesh Migration (if applicable):

    • Review service mesh configuration
    • Test enhanced integration features
    • Update sidecar injection if needed

  3. Gateway API Adoption:

    • Consider migrating from Ingress to Gateway API
    • Review Gateway API resources
    • Test gateway configurations

  4. Observability Updates:

    • Review metrics and logging changes
    • Update monitoring tools if needed
    • Test tracing capabilities

Tool Compatibility

Ensure compatibility with:

  • kubectl: 1.30 required
  • Helm: Latest 3.x version
  • Service Mesh: Istio 1.19+, Linkerd 2.14+
  • Operators: Update to 1.30-compatible versions
  • CI/CD: Verify pipeline compatibility
  • Monitoring: Prometheus, Grafana latest versions

New kubectl Features

# Enhanced Gateway API support
kubectl get gateway
kubectl get httproute
kubectl describe gateway <name>

# Better observability
kubectl logs --follow --tail=100 <pod>
kubectl top pods --containers

# Improved debugging
kubectl debug <pod> --image=debugger
kubectl get events --field-selector involvedObject.name=<pod>

Best Practices for 1.30

  1. Adopt Gateway API: Consider migrating from Ingress for better features
  2. Leverage Service Mesh: Use enhanced service mesh integration
  3. Improve Observability: Take advantage of enhanced monitoring capabilities
  4. Update APIs: Continue migration to stable API versions
  5. Monitor Performance: Use new observability features to optimize

Known Issues and Workarounds

Issue 1: Gateway API Migration

Problem: Some Ingress controllers may require updates for Gateway API support

Workaround: Review controller documentation and update as needed

Issue 2: Service Mesh Integration

Problem: Enhanced integration may require mesh configuration updates

Workaround: Test mesh integration thoroughly before production deployment

Related Resources

Conclusion

Kubernetes 1.30 represents a significant step forward in service mesh integration, networking capabilities, and observability. The enhanced Gateway API support, improved service mesh integration, and better observability features make this release valuable for production environments.

Key takeaways:

  • Enhanced service mesh integration and Gateway API support
  • Improved networking performance and capabilities
  • Better observability and debugging tools
  • Significant performance optimizations
  • Continued focus on security enhancements

Plan your upgrade carefully, test service mesh and Gateway API features if applicable, and leverage the improved observability to optimize your Kubernetes operations.