have tried multiple different ftp clients, restarting vsftpd, and recreated the vsftpd.pem file. I still get the error. I am not able to reboot the system again for a few weeks because of a change freeze, and the primary service the server is running is a webserver, ftp is secondary.  

The full trace from "Filezilla" is below :  

Status: Connecting to aps1.almaden.ibm.com ...
Trace: FtpControlSocket.cpp(5140): m_pSslLayer changed state from 0 to 1   caller=0x003be0fc
Trace: FtpControlSocket.cpp(5140): m_pSslLayer changed state from 1 to 2   caller=0x003be0fc
Trace: FtpControlSocket.cpp(5140): m_pSslLayer changed state from 2 to 4   caller=0x003be0fc
Trace: FtpControlSocket.cpp(990): OnConnect(0)  OpMode=1 OpState=-8   caller=0x003be0fc
Status: Connected with aps1.almaden.ibm.com, negotiating SSL connection...
Trace: FtpControlSocket.cpp(812): OnReceive(0)  OpMode=1 OpState=-8   caller=0x003be0fc
Response: 220 (vsFTPd 2.0.1)
Command: AUTH SSL
Trace: FtpControlSocket.cpp(812): OnReceive(0)  OpMode=1 OpState=-9   caller=0x003be0fc
Response: 234 Proceed with negotiation.
Trace: FtpControlSocket.cpp(812): OnReceive(0)  OpMode=1 OpState=-10   caller=0x003be0fc
Trace: SSL_connect: SSLv3 read server hello A
Trace: SSL_connect: SSLv3 read server certificate A
Trace: SSL_connect: SSLv3 read server done A
Trace: SSL_connect: SSLv3 write client key exchange A
Trace: SSL_connect: SSLv3 write change cipher spec A
Trace: SSL_connect: SSLv3 write finished A
Trace: SSL_connect: SSLv3 flush data
Trace: SSL_connect: SSLv3 read finished A