AKS AGIC App Gateway backend pool limit for 100+ apps

Question

AKS AGIC App Gateway backend pool limit for 100+ apps

Laha, Prithwish 25

For AKS ingress I am using Application gateway ingress controller (AGIC). I want to host more than 100 java applications in AKS using AGIC as ingress. As per my understanding each backend service will create backend pools and backend settings in AppGW. As per the AppGW limitation AppGW can support max 100 backend pools and backend settings.

My questions are,

Is this a hard limit? Is it possible to increase the limit in AppGW ?
Is it possible to host 100+ k8s services using AGIC as ingress? if not, what are the alternate Azure native ingress solutions available so that we can seamlessly scale (estimating 300+ JAVA Apps)?

Saraswathi Devadula 16,040 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-06-26T14:16:21.19+00:00
Hello **Laha, Prithwish
**1) Is the App Gateway “max 100 backend pools/backend settings” a hard limit? Can it be increased?

strictly unchangeable, or

adjustable via support/quota requests, or

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-resource-manager/management/azure-subscription-service-limits#azure-application-gateway-limits

Can you host 100+ Kubernetes services with AGIC? If not, what Azure-native ingress alternatives scale better?

The provided AGIC setup doc explains that AGIC dynamically updates Application Gateway based on Kubernetes Ingress resources, but it doesn’t provide guidance on how many services/Ingresses AGIC can support before you hit Application Gateway backend pool/backend setting constraints.

So, from the provided docs alone, we can’t definitively answer whether “100+ apps” will work end-to-end with AGIC in your specific model, or what exact alternative ingress option would be the recommended path for ~300+ apps.

What we can suggest from the provided docs is that the natural scaling consideration for AKS is often addressed with Kubernetes autoscaling (HPA + cluster autoscaler) and resource planning, but that is about compute/node scaling, not ingress controller configuration limits in Application Gateway.

Follow-up questions (to give a precise answer on feasibility and alternatives)

In your AGIC setup, are you creating one Ingress per app, or using shared Ingress resources (e.g., multiple paths/hosts under fewer Ingress objects)?

For each of the ~100+ apps, do you expect unique combinations that translate to distinct backend pools + backend settings in Application Gateway (for example: unique host+path routing with different ports/health probes)?

Are you using Application Gateway Standard_v2 or WAF_v2 SKU (AGIC requirement says v2 SKU only)?

Can you share (high level) whether the apps are all on the same namespace or multiple namespaces, and whether you plan to use any multi-tenant approach?

What are the current counts in App Gateway you’re hitting today: number of backend pools and backend settings created by AGIC?

If you answer those, I can help you craft a more accurate public-forum response (and suggest the most plausible design options) while staying within the documented constraints.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/architecture/example-scenario/aks-agic/aks-agic
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/application-gateway/ingress-controller-install-new
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/azure-resource-manager/management/azure-subscription-service-limits#azure-application-gateway-limits
Saraswathi Devadula 16,040 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-06-29T07:22:18.15+00:00

Hello **Laha, Prithwish
I hope you had the opportunity to review the information shared earlier, and I hope this information was helpful! If you still have questions, please let us know what is needed in the comments so that the question can be answered.
Laha, Prithwish 25 Reputation points

2026-06-29T11:18:30.9533333+00:00
@Saraswathi Devadula Thanks for your response. below are answers for follow up questions,

In your AGIC setup, are you creating one Ingress per app, or using shared Ingress resources (e.g., multiple paths/hosts under fewer Ingress objects)? -> It is shared ingress with path based routing logic. Each app has its own path but host is same for all apps. It creates one listener and one rule but for each backend entry in ingress it creates backend pool and backend settings and health probe for each app. I have tried one ingress per app approach. Each ingress creates one listener, one rule, one backend pool, one backend settings, one health probe.

For each of the ~100+ apps, do you expect unique combinations that translate to distinct backend pools + backend settings in Application Gateway (for example: unique host+path routing with different ports/health probes)? -> Host will be same for all the apps. I am using path-based routing logic. Path is unique for each app.

Are you using Application Gateway Standard_v2 or WAF_v2 SKU (AGIC requirement says v2 SKU only)? -> Application Gateway Standard_v2

Can you share (high level) whether the apps are all on the same namespace or multiple namespaces, and whether you plan to use any multi-tenant approach? -> Our plan is to keep all apps under one namespace only.

What are the current counts in App Gateway you’re hitting today: number of backend pools and backend settings created by AGIC? -> We are reviewing ingress options and came to know about the limitation. We have 300 Apps to host in AKS.

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Saraswathi Devadula 16,040 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff Moderator

2026-06-29T07:22:18.15+00:00

Hello **Laha, Prithwish
I hope you had the opportunity to review the information shared earlier, and I hope this information was helpful! If you still have questions, please let us know what is needed in the comments so that the question can be answered.
Laha, Prithwish 25 Reputation points

2026-06-29T11:18:30.9533333+00:00

@Saraswathi Devadula Thanks for your response. below are answers for follow up questions,

In your AGIC setup, are you creating one Ingress per app, or using shared Ingress resources (e.g., multiple paths/hosts under fewer Ingress objects)? -> It is shared ingress with path based routing logic. Each app has its own path but host is same for all apps. It creates one listener and one rule but for each backend entry in ingress it creates backend pool and backend settings and health probe for each app. I have tried one ingress per app approach. Each ingress creates one listener, one rule, one backend pool, one backend settings, one health probe.

For each of the ~100+ apps, do you expect unique combinations that translate to distinct backend pools + backend settings in Application Gateway (for example: unique host+path routing with different ports/health probes)? -> Host will be same for all the apps. I am using path-based routing logic. Path is unique for each app.

Are you using Application Gateway Standard_v2 or WAF_v2 SKU (AGIC requirement says v2 SKU only)? -> Application Gateway Standard_v2

Can you share (high level) whether the apps are all on the same namespace or multiple namespaces, and whether you plan to use any multi-tenant approach? -> Our plan is to keep all apps under one namespace only.

What are the current counts in App Gateway you’re hitting today: number of backend pools and backend settings created by AGIC? -> We are reviewing ingress options and came to know about the limitation. We have 300 Apps to host in AKS.

Answer 1

Hello,

Welcome to the Microsoft Azure Community.

Good morning, Laha. This is an Application Gateway SKU restriction that cannot be increased. Since AGIC automatically creates backend pools and HTTP settings for exposed services, a single Application Gateway is insufficient for environments with more than 100 applications. For your desired scenario (300 Java applications), using more scalable architectures is recommended, such as:

Using multiple Application Gateways with AGIC.
Adopting Application Gateway for Containers, which is designed to offer better scalability in AKS.

Recommended technical reference documentation:

If this answer helped resolve the issue, please mark it as a Helpful Answer. This action closes the thread, flags the correct solution, and helps others with the same question find the answer more easily. If you still need support or have further questions, feel free to use this same post.

Laha, Prithwish 25 Reputation points

2026-06-29T11:22:51.6266667+00:00

@Dio Xavier Thanks for your response. I have tried Application Gateway for Containers. It always provisions public frontend IP. We have a requirement of private front facing IP for ingress solution. Does AGC support private frontend IP ?