I have set up vsftpd, I can logon onto the server and perform various operation from another machine specofying the internal ip address. . I have registred with dyndns.com and mapped my external ip with a hostname. myhost.homelinux.com
My problem now comes when I am trying to access the server using the host as follow the connection fails every time... What am I doing wrong?

The server runs mandriva 09, the client machine runs winXP... does this happen because I am using a machine connected to my network already and need to try and external server???

Yeah, doing that you'll hit the inside of your router, and possibly log into the router itself, not necessarily be subjected to NAT rules listening on the outside of your router. In addition, FTP can be hard to NAT due to it's odd port allocation, your router *should* be able to deal with this though, but also something to remember

Oh I see, thank you for that. So how can I test this out? or I will have to get someone else outside my network to do that for me (which might be difficult)... Other alternative will be for me to go back and forth all the time. not practical at all... Any other ways???

One thing worth to mention is: I have my wireless router connected to another one provided by my ISP, I have to do that because my ISP does not allow to log onto the router, they dont provide the username and password to access it. So to setup my Home NT, I had to connect my own Wireless router to it. I have checked with the tool provided on dyndns and the port is indeed open, but now I am starting to think maybe it is the port forwarding that might be the problem.