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KOPS LOCKS DOWN K8S 1.35 COMPATIBILITY WHILE VSPHERE ADDS MULTI-API SUPPORT
By RepoJournal · Filed · About Kubernetes
Kops shipped critical version gating for a CSI feature that was breaking cluster validation on older Kubernetes releases, while the vSphere cloud provider decoupled itself from API versioning to support multiple VM Operator versions simultaneously.
Kops merged a fix [1] that prevents nodeAllocatableUpdatePeriodSeconds from being set on Kubernetes versions below 1.35, where the underlying MutableCSINodeAllocatableCount feature gate doesn't exist by default — this was causing validation failures across clusters. In parallel, the team landed upgrade e2e tests for gossip [2], exposing gaps in Azure and GCE implementations that need attention before the feature stabilizes across cloud providers. The dns-controller now accepts a configurable priorityClassName [3] instead of hardcoding system-cluster-critical, giving operators control during upgrades when old and new images run side-by-side. Over in vSphere, cloud-provider-vsphere introduced a Hub Type abstraction layer [4] that decouples business logic from specific VM Operator API versions, with v1alpha6 support now landed [5] alongside backward compatibility for v1alpha2 and v1alpha5 — this is the pattern that lets infrastructure providers stop chasing API versions. Kubernetes core merged two test stability fixes: one for PodGroup protection flakes [6] and another [7] forcing block I/O writes through the kernel instead of page cache, making cadvisor metrics reliable in test environments.
Action items
- → If running kops on K8s <1.35, upgrade kops immediately to pick up CSI feature gating fix kubernetes/kops [immediate]
- → Review GCE gossip bootstrap configuration — worker IPs not propagating correctly [ref:2] kubernetes/kops [plan]
- → If managing vSphere clusters, test VM Operator API version flag for your upgrade path kubernetes/cloud-provider-vsphere [plan]
- → Monitor container metrics tests — block I/O flakes should drop with latest kubernetes merge kubernetes/kubernetes [monitor]
References
- [1] aws: Only set nodeAllocatableUpdatePeriodSeconds on K8s 1.35+ ↗ kubernetes/kops
- [2] e2e: add upgrade test for gossip ↗ kubernetes/kops
- [3] dns-controller: make priorityClassName configurable ↗ kubernetes/kops
- [4] ✨ vsphereparavirtual: Support multiple VM Operator API versions ↗ kubernetes/cloud-provider-vsphere
- [5] ✨ vsphereparavirtual: add support for VM Operator API version v1alpha6 ↗ kubernetes/cloud-provider-vsphere
- [6] fix PodGroup protection test flake by waiting for pod watch before delete ↗ kubernetes/kubernetes
- [7] Fix ContainerMetrics cadvisor test flake for block I/O metrics ↗ kubernetes/kubernetes
FAQ
- What changed in Kubernetes on May 11, 2026?
- Kops shipped critical version gating for a CSI feature that was breaking cluster validation on older Kubernetes releases, while the vSphere cloud provider decoupled itself from API versioning to support multiple VM Operator versions simultaneously.
- What should Kubernetes teams do about it?
- If running kops on K8s <1.35, upgrade kops immediately to pick up CSI feature gating fix • Review GCE gossip bootstrap configuration — worker IPs not propagating correctly [ref:2] • If managing vSphere clusters, test VM Operator API version flag for your upgrade path
- Which Kubernetes repositories shipped on May 11, 2026?
- kubernetes/kops, kubernetes/cloud-provider-vsphere, kubernetes/kubernetes