Features

• #23454 A new metric (cluster_features_enterprise_license_expiry_sec) is added for easier monitoring of the enterprise license's expiry time. by @pgellert in #23467
• #23760 Adds admin API endpoint for enterprise feature info GET /v1/features/enterprise by @oleiman in #23761

Bug Fixes

• Construct audit metrics probe during service initialization to prevent null pointer access. by @michael-redpanda in #24128
• Fixes a bug in which upload candidates made from segments with missing batches would trigger metadata related errors in the ntp_archiver_service, due to assigned start offsets being lower than they should be. by @WillemKauf in #24105
• Fixes a bug where only a group static member's protocols would be updated on rejoin, even if more properties had been passed to the rejoin command by @IoannisRP in #23733
• #23863 Fixes a bug where audit log manager would retry a bad request forever, causing buffers to fill up, blocking audit log appends and preventing authZ. by @oleiman in #23868
• #23930 Ignore heartbeat requests/replies to/from unexpected node ids. by @ztlpn in #23934
• #24056 Cleanup tiered storage temporary cache file if exceptions are thrown during download. by @nvartolomei in #24064
• #24077 Fixes a rare bug during remote partition manifest downloads where broken pipe exceptions weren't retried in an edge case. by @pgellert in #24079
• #24143 This fixes a bug in the audit client where if the cluster config value kafka_batch_max_bytes was greater than audit_client_max_buffer_size, the audit client ends up not producing any messages and becomes stuck filling up the audit log buffers. by @pgellert in #24149

Improvements

• --regex flag in rpk topic describe now supports internal topics. by @r-vasquez in #23605
• Adds a shard label to some consumer group metrics. by @ballard26 in #23626
• #23404 Adds the ability to configure Node UUID and ID overrides at broker startup. by @oleiman in #23412
• fixed large allocation in Raft implementation by @mmaslankaprv in #24009
• rpk: redpanda admin brokers list exposes Host/Port/Rack/UUID additionally by @daisukebe in #23688
• PR #23414 [v24.1.x] archival: use log_level_for_error() for failed reupload candidates by @WillemKauf
• PR #23450 [v24.1.x] storage: catch ss::gate_closed_exception in log_manager (manual backport) by @WillemKauf
• PR #23501 [v24.1.x] tests/failure_injector: undo the failures on exit by @bashtanov
• PR #23506 [v24.1.x] cluster_recovery_backend_test: only reset relevant config by @andrwng
• PR #23515 [v24.1.x] rptest: produce more data in FullDiskReclaimTest to trigger gc conditions by @nvartolomei
• PR #23527 [v24.1.x] CORE-7689 dt/rp_installer: ensure cache directory exists by @pgellert
• PR #23537 [v24.1.x] rptest: do not expect cached segment readers at the end of the test by @nvartolomei
• PR #23555 [v24.1.x] ssx: exit early from sleep_abortable if already aborted by @nvartolomei
• PR #23608 [v24.1.x] tests: fix rpk generate test by @r-vasquez
• PR #23646 [24.1.x] tests: bump ducktape to latest of 0.11.x by @ivotron
• PR #23674 [v24.1.x] tests: test legacy dashboard in rpk generate by @r-vasquez
• PR #23708 [v24.1.x] gha: rm use of rp_storage_tool_uploader by @andrewhsu
• PR #23746 [v24.1.x] Keep producer inflight requests queue bounded by @mmaslankaprv
• PR #23766 [v24.1.x] gha: fix pip install on python actions by @ivotron
• PR #23818 [v24.1.x] rpk: debug bundle collecting broker UUIDs by @daisukebe
• PR #23831 [v24.1.x] rpk: introduce license warnings messages by @r-vasquez
• PR #23849 [v24.1.x] [CORE-7957] tests: wait for license information comparisons by @r-vasquez
• PR #23861 [v24.1.x] kafka: oversized alloc in list_offsets_topic by @IoannisRP
• PR #23866 [v24.1.x] [CORE-7719] Add has_valid_license & has_enterprise_features to phone-home metrics by @oleiman
• PR #23923 [v24.1.x] rpk: fill schema registry information in cloud profiles by @r-vasquez
• PR #23965 [v24.1.x] [DEVEX-36] rpk: change expiry check for free_trial by @r-vasquez
• PR #23988 [v24.1.x] rpk: fix printing new lines by @r-vasquez
• PR #24015 [v24.1.x] metrics: Add list of enterprise features to call-home POST by @oleiman
• PR #24025 [v24.1.x] transform-sdk/go/tests: remove -quiet flag by @rockwotj
• PR #24044 [v24.1.x] [CORE-8141] Add host information to metrics report by @michael-redpanda
• PR #24051 [v24.1.x] storage: housekeeping metrics by @nvartolomei
• PR #24062 [v24.1.x] [CORE-1478] rptest: fix retention value in archive_retention_test by @WillemKauf
• PR #24070 [v24.1.x] rptest: reduce cache eviction throttling for space leak test by @nvartolomei
• PR #24089 [v24.1.x] storage: remove assertion on is_cloud_retention_active by @ballard26

Full Changelog: v24.1.17...v24.1.18