Infrastructure Briefing — Kubernetes 1.29 "Mandala" Release

Executive briefing: The Kubernetes project shipped version 1.29 ("Mandala") on 13 December 2023. The release sharpens security and operational tooling for multi-cloud platform teams.

Key updates

• KMS v2 reaches GA. The second-generation Key Management Service API delivers envelope encryption performance improvements and rotation controls.
• Node log query beta. Cluster operators can query kubelet-managed logs via a stable API, simplifying troubleshooting.
• Multi-architecture images. Image promotion pipelines now publish arm64 artifacts faster, aiding heterogeneous node pools.

Implementation guidance

• Plan KMS v2 adoption with cloud provider plugins or HashiCorp Vault integrations to secure secrets at rest.
• Update observability tooling to leverage the node log query API for fleet-wide diagnostics.
• Validate container build workflows for multi-arch image publishing ahead of mixed architecture deployments.

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