Kubernetes 1.34 is now available in the Rapid channel Kubernetes 1.34 is now available in the Rapid channel

## Announcement **Kubernetes 1.34 is now available in the Rapid channel** Kubernetes 1.34 is now available in the Rapid channel. For more information about the content of Kubernetes 1.34, read the [Kubernetes 1.34 Release Notes](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubernetes/blob/master/CHANGELOG/CHANGELOG-1.34.md#changelog-since-v1330). ## Feature **New features in Kubernetes 1.34** * The [Kubernetes Dynamic Resource Allocation (DRA) APIs ](https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/scheduling-eviction/dynamic-resource-allocation/#api)are now generally available. For more information about using DRA in GKE, see [About dynamic resource allocation in GKE](https://cloud.google.com/kubernetes-engine/docs/concepts/about-dynamic-resource-allocation). The Prioritized list and Admin access features have been promoted to beta and will be enabled by default. The kubelet API has been updated to report status on resources allocated through DRA. * [The Sleep Action for Pod prestop lifecycle hook](https://github.com/kubernetes/enhancements/issues/3960) is now GA. This can be used to delay Pod termination for graceful shutdown. * [Streaming List Response Encoding](https://github.com/kubernetes/enhancements/issues/5116) is now GA. It enables efficient handling of requests for large object collections, improving API server reliability and performance. * [In-Place Pod Resize](https://github.com/kubernetes/enhancements/issues/1287), which was in beta, is now improved by adding support for decreasing memory limits with best-effort OOM protection. Improved deferred resize retries are also added, which are now prioritized and more responsive to resources becoming available. A new `ResizeCompleted` event records when a resize is completed. ## Change **Other changes in 1.34** * **containerd 2.1:** GKE nodes are now upgraded to containerd 2.1\. This release includes performance improvements such as faster image downloads. For a complete list of changes, see the official [containerd 2.1 release notes](https://github.com/containerd/containerd/releases/tag/v2.1.0). * **VPA InPlaceOrRecreate**: This version introduces a [new InPlaceOrRecreate mode in Vertical Pod Autoscaler (VPA)](https://github.com/kubernetes/autoscaler/tree/master/vertical-pod-autoscaler/enhancements/4016-in-place-updates-support) (Public Preview) powered by In-Place Pod Resize (IPPR/IPPU) that allows automatically rightsizing workloads often without recreating the Pod. This mode ensures seamless service continuity while minimizing costs during idle periods. If you haven't used VPA with your workloads before, enable Vertical Pod Autoscaler on your cluster and then create a VPA Object for a workload. ## Deprecate **Deprecated in 1.34** The [v1beta1](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubelet/tree/v0.34.0/pkg/apis/dra/v1beta1) gRPC API between the Kubelet and DRA drivers is deprecated in this release in favor of the [v1](https://github.com/kubernetes/kubelet/tree/v0.34.0/pkg/apis/dra/v1) API. This API will continue to function but we recommend that all drivers move to the v1 API to prepare for the eventual removal of the v1beta1 API. ## Change **CNI spec version for GKE Dataplane V2 updated to v1.1.0** Starting with GKE patch version 1.34, clusters using [GKE Dataplane V2](https://cloud.google.com/kubernetes-engine/docs/concepts/dataplane-v2) are being updated from [CNI spec](https://www.cni.dev/docs/spec/) v0.3.1 to v1.1.0. Action required: If you use your own CNI plugins in your GKE cluster (such as self-managed open-source Istio), you must upgrade them to a version compatible with CNI spec v1.1.0 to prevent errors. ## Feature On clusters with GKE Dataplane V2 that are on GKE version 1.34 and later, the [ptp plugin](https://www.cni.dev/plugins/current/main/ptp) is removed from the Container Network Interface (CNI) path. Pods that are created on new nodes have interfaces named `lxc[INTERFACE_HASH]` instead of `gke[INTERFACE_HASH]`. Additionally, the CNI configuration is moving from the `netd` DaemonSet to the `cni-writer` container in the `anetd` DaemonSet. For more information, see [Overview of GKE Dataplane V2](https://cloud.google.com/kubernetes-engine/docs/concepts/dataplane-v2#introduction). ## Feature GKE alpha clusters enable all alpha and the default beta feature gates, which help you to test and validate upcoming Kubernetes capabilities. You can now modify the feature gates to enable or disable differently from the default values, which provides more granular control when leveraging these experimental features. Note that alpha clusters shouldn't be used for production workloads to ensure that your workloads remain stable and performant. For more information, see [Alpha clusters](https://cloud.google.com/kubernetes-engine/docs/concepts/alpha-clusters).