Configuring vsftpd for active and passive data connections on Amazon EC2

In your /etc/vsftpd.conf add:

pasv_min_port=10000
pasv_max_port=10024
pasv_address=1.2.3.4

(Where 1.2.3.4 is your external public IP address.)

Then:

ec2-authorize default -p 20-21
ec2-authorize default -p 10000-10024

and restart vsftpd.

What this does is configure vsftpd to use ports 10000-10024 for passive data transfers. Then ec2-authorize opens ports 20-21 and 10000-10024 for active and passive connections.

I was banging my head against the wall trying to figure out why my passive connections were hanging. I had everything in the config except pasv_address. When I added that, it started working perfectly.