Path Based Routing with Nginx Controller not working - kubernetes

Question

I have been trying my Nginx Path-Based routing to work, however, after spending almost 4 hours, I am failed to understand, why is it not working. I have gone through almost every possible answer on StackOverflow before anyone downgrades my question, but none worked for me.
So here what I did:
I installed nginx-ingress using Helm 3 (https://docs.nginx.com/nginx-ingress-controller/installation/installation-with-helm/) in a separate namespace - nginx-test:
helm install my-release nginx-stable/nginx-ingress
A version of the ingress controller (https://hub.helm.sh/charts/nginx-edge/nginx-ingress):
$ POD_NAME=$(kubectl get pods -l app=nginx-controller-nginx-ingress -o jsonpath='{.items[0].metadata.name}')
$
$ kubectl exec -it $POD_NAME -- /nginx-ingress --version
Version=edge GitCommit=50e908aa
$
There are 2 basic nginx deployments, 2 services already configured in the same namespace, and working fine when I configure host-based routing for them.
Below one works fine for me (when I define host-based routing and get the required page index.html when I run both individual URLs):
apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1beta1
kind: Ingress
metadata:
name: nginx-ingress
annotations:
nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/rewrite-target: /$1
spec:
rules:
- host: nginx1.example.com
http:
paths:
- path: /
backend:
serviceName: nginx1
servicePort: 80
- host: nginx2.example.com
http:
paths:
- path: /
backend:
serviceName: nginx2
servicePort: 80
Now I wanted to achieve the same result using Path-Based routing, where there will be 1 URL and 2 Paths /nginx1 (pointing to nginx1 service) and /nginx2 (pointing to nginx2 service). So I configured the below ingress resource (and many permutations and combinations I applied based on different examples on internet), none of them worked for me.
apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1beta1
kind: Ingress
metadata:
name: ingress-path-based
annotations:
nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/rewrite-target: /$1
kubernetes.io/ingress.class: "nginx"
spec:
rules:
- host: nginx.example.com
http:
paths:
- path: /nginx1
backend:
serviceName: nginx1
servicePort: 80
- path: /nginx2
backend:
serviceName: nginx2
servicePort: 80
When I access services directly, it works fine, however when I try to access - curl http://nginx.example.com/nginx1 or curl http://nginx.example.com/nginx2 - I get 404 Not Found error.
I was expecting to receive the same response which I was getting for Host-Based routing. But it does not seem to work.

Answer 1

So finally I had to install the controller using manifests, instead of helm charts (edge version).
I installed it from here (https://kubernetes.github.io/ingress-nginx/deploy/#bare-metal), changed NodePort to LoadBalancer to get a LoadBalancer IP. I am using MetalLB on BareMetal.
$ POD_NAME=$(kubectl get pods -n $POD_NAMESPACE -l app.kubernetes.io/component=controller -o jsonpath='{.items[0].metadata.name}')
$ kubectl exec -it $POD_NAME -n $POD_NAMESPACE -- /nginx-ingress-controller --version
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NGINX Ingress controller
Release: 0.32.0
Build: git-446845114
Repository: https://github.com/kubernetes/ingress-nginx
nginx version: nginx/1.17.10
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
$
My Ingress resource looks like the same which I posted while asking the question.
apiVersion: networking.k8s.io/v1beta1
kind: Ingress
metadata:
name: ingress-path-based
annotations:
kubernetes.io/ingress.class: "nginx"
nginx.ingress.kubernetes.io/rewrite-target: /$1
spec:
rules:
- host: nginx.gofork8s.com
http:
paths:
- path: /nginx1
backend:
serviceName: nginx1
servicePort: 80
- path: /nginx2
backend:
serviceName: nginx2
servicePort: 80
Modified the new LoadBalancer IP in /etc/hosts file to get the domain work.
192.168.0.1 nginx.example.com
Now I am able to access - http://nginx.example.com/nginx1 and http://nginx.example.com/nginx2.
I hope it will help someone. I still need to figure out settings with Helm Charts.