Answer: metered pricing, self-service management

The question asks for two characteristics of the public cloud. Based on the community discussion and Azure fundamentals: - **D (metered pricing)**: Public cloud operates on a pay-as-you-go model where users are charged based on resource consumption (compute, storage, bandwidth). This is a core characteristic of public cloud services. - **E (self-service management)**: Public cloud providers offer self-service portals (e.g., Azure Portal) that allow users to deploy, manage, and scale resources independently without manual intervention from the provider. Other options are incorrect: - **A (dedicated hardware)**: Public cloud typically uses shared infrastructure; while Azure Dedicated Host exists, it is a specific service and not a general characteristic of public cloud. - **B (unsecured connections)**: Public cloud providers implement secure connections (e.g., encryption, VPNs) by default, so unsecured connections are not a characteristic. - **C (limited storage)**: Public cloud offers scalable, virtually unlimited storage, so limited storage is not characteristic. The community consensus strongly supports D and E, with high upvotes and detailed reasoning confirming these as the correct answers.

Author: LeetQuiz Editorial Team