FTP issue - VSFTPd and connecting to from FileZilla
Solution 1:
I solved this exact problem on one of my servers in the past; It was a Filezilla server on Windows Server 2008 also on EC2.
The solution: It was a matter of setting the passive port range on the ftp server & opening that same range in the EC2 Security Groups. You may even need to add the range to IPTables within CentOS if iptables is being used -- although you should consider turning off iptables as it is a bit redundant with EC2 Security Groups.
Have a look here: http://forum.filezilla-project.org/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=7315
[alt text][1] [1]:http://www.iainlbc.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/security_groups.png
You could also configure VSFTPd to use active (not passive) mode - so it uses only port 20/21. The difference between active and passive is explained here: http://www.slacksite.com/other/ftp.html