diff --git a/pkg/cluster/cluster.go b/pkg/cluster/cluster.go
index 2bcbc13e..a7bbae8d 100644
--- a/pkg/cluster/cluster.go
+++ b/pkg/cluster/cluster.go
@@ -285,7 +285,25 @@ func ClusterCreate(ctx context.Context, runtime k3drt.Runtime, cluster *k3d.Clus
 			ports := k3d.DefaultAPIPort
 			for _, portString := range cluster.ServerLoadBalancer.Ports {
 				split := strings.Split(portString, ":")
-				ports += "," + split[len(split)-1]
+				port := split[len(split)-1]
+				if strings.Contains(port, "-") {
+					split := strings.Split(port, "-")
+					start, err := strconv.Atoi(split[0])
+					if err != nil {
+						log.Errorln("Failed to parse port mapping for loadbalancer '%s'", port)
+						return err
+					}
+					end, err := strconv.Atoi(split[1])
+					if err != nil {
+						log.Errorln("Failed to parse port mapping for loadbalancer '%s'", port)
+						return err
+					}
+					for i := start; i <= end; i++ {
+						ports += "," + strconv.Itoa(i)
+					}
+				} else {
+					ports += "," + port
+				}
 			}
 
 			// Create LB as a modified node with loadbalancerRole
@@ -296,6 +314,7 @@ func ClusterCreate(ctx context.Context, runtime k3drt.Runtime, cluster *k3d.Clus
 				Env: []string{
 					fmt.Sprintf("SERVERS=%s", servers),
 					fmt.Sprintf("PORTS=%s", ports),
+					fmt.Sprintf("WORKER_PROCESSES=%d", len(strings.Split(ports, ","))),
 				},
 				Role:    k3d.LoadBalancerRole,
 				Labels:  k3d.DefaultObjectLabels, // TODO: createLoadBalancer: add more expressive labels
diff --git a/proxy/templates/nginx.tmpl b/proxy/templates/nginx.tmpl
index a73e739c..4c7f80e9 100644
--- a/proxy/templates/nginx.tmpl
+++ b/proxy/templates/nginx.tmpl
@@ -1,13 +1,12 @@
 {{- $servers := split (getenv "SERVERS") "," -}}
 {{- $ports := split (getenv "PORTS") "," -}}
-
 error_log stderr notice;
 
 worker_processes auto;
 events {
   multi_accept on;
   use epoll;
-  worker_connections 1024;
+  worker_connections {{ add 1024 (len $ports) }};
 }
 
 stream {