You have five Windows Server VMs, each hosting a different web application. You plan to use an Azure Application Gateway to serve all apps using the same hostname (www.contoso.com) and distinct URL paths (for example, https://www.contoso.com/app1 for the first app). You need to route traffic based on the URL path. Which Application Gateway configuration should you create or modify?

Rules are the core component for defining how the Application Gateway routes incoming requests to backend pools. In this scenario, you would configure path-based rules to inspect the URL path (e.g., /app1, /app2) and direct traffic to the corresponding backend pool containing the correct web application VM. HTTP settings define properties like port, protocol, and cookie-based affinity for communication between the Application Gateway and the backend servers, not for routing decisions based on URL paths. Listeners define the IP address, port, and protocol that the Application Gateway uses to receive incoming requests, but they don't dictate routing logic. Rewrites are used to modify the request or response headers and URLs, not to route traffic to different backend pools based on URL paths.