How to automatically start a network license server on Mac

Solution:

To start an Autodesk License Server on a Mac, use a .profile file to run the license server startup command:

1. Verify that the license sever can be started from a terminal window and /usr/local/flexnetserver/ directory permissions are set to 777 (see How to set up the Autodesk Network License Manager on a Mac).

2. Open TextEdit and set it to plain text (Format > Make Plain Text).

3. Copy the contents below and save the file on the desktop. Name the file as profile.txt.

   /usr/local/flexnetserver/lmgrd –c /usr/local/flexnetserver/licenses/adsk_license.lic –l /usr/local/flexnetserver/debug.log

   Note: The above command assumes that the Autodesk software license file name is adsk_server.lic and is located in /var/flexlm/ folder. If this is not the case, edit the command accordingly. The same assumption is made regarding default log file /var/flexlm/adsk_server.log.

4. Open a Terminal and type:

   cd $HOME

5. Type the following and the file will be moved from your Desktop to your HOME directory and renamed as .profile:

   mv Desktop/profile.txt .profile

6. Type the following and confirm that there is a .profile file in the folder:

   ls -la

7. Go to System Preferences > Users & Groups.

8. Select your user and then Login Items.

9. Click the plus (+) symbol at the bottom. In the dialog window, click on the search bar on top-right and type Terminal. Double-click on the correspondent result. Eventually, Terminal will be added in the Login Items list as shown below:
   
   
10. Reboot the computer.
11. After reboot, the following will show up in a Terminal window, meaning that the license server is working. The Activity Monitor can also be used (View > All Processes) to confirm that adskflex and lmgrd are running.

A video tutorial showing the process can be found here.