I connect to an ec2 instance via SSH.
What options do I have to transfer files over to my linux box?
Is there anything other than setting up an FTP server?
(I'm on a windows computer )
Download WinSCP and use the sftp functionality. It makes use of your ssh connection.
Use scp with the same arguments as ssh:
scp -i key.pem path/to/local/file user@aws-server:path/to/remote/file
An ec2 instance is the same as any other server, so you don't need to think in regards to how to work with ec2, just how to work with a linux server.
I prefer using FileZilla as it supports multiple types including FTP and SFTP so I can have all of my sites saved in one client.
This is how I do it on Ubuntu:
sshfs [email protected]:/ /home/matt/EC2 -o ssh_command='ssh -i /home/matt/.ssh/key.pem'