Any automated SSH/SFTP access must use a public key. No hardcoded passwords!
As long as you are physically initiating uploads or downloads yourself you're fine, even if an automated component is involved. (Just make sure you're either using a key or typing the password by hand.)
Unattended automated SSH/SFTP access is allowed only for these purposes:
- Purpose: To make your own offsite backups of content hosted here.
Frequency: Up to once per day per site or MySQL process. - Purpose: To upload content.
Frequency: Less often than whichever of these is more permissive:- the average ssh-based upload frequency is less than the average web-based download frequency (in other words, people are viewing the content at least as often as it is being updated)
- an average rate of one file per five minutes
If you want automatic unattended uploads beyond these limits, you should use HTTP POST or PUT requests and a small script on your site to receive the files.
Please respect the shared resources used by SSH—which we currently do not charge for—by observing these guidelines. If you have any questions about what is allowable, please ask.
(This answer is for SSH and SFTP. Automated FTP access is never allowed.)