There is nothing more obnoxious than a customer who lays down a mandate like that and doesn't give a good explanation. They tie your hands by telling you that you can't do something a certain way even though that is the most logical and best method to do the job. FTP is designed to do what they are asking you to do, yet they won't let you use it? I think you may need to debate them on it. And if they still disagree, maybe just walk away from that job. They obviously don't know what they are doing and are too difficult to deal with.
Tell them it's possible to get a minimal MS Network implementation on the Compact RIO for let's say 50000 bucks. Maybe that will tell them that they might need to rethink their strategy.
Yes! It's doable but quite a bit of work. And not the whole Samba suite of course but hey! And they couldn't really own the solution either because you can't own Samba 😉
