How to automatically start a network license server on Mac

Autodesk Support

Oct 8, 2023

Products and versions covered

Issue:

This article shows how to configure a network license server on Mac to automatically run when the computer starts up.

Environment:

macOS

Solution:

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

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).
Open TextEdit and set it to plain text (Format > Make Plain Text).
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.
Open a Terminal and type:
```
cd $HOME
```
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
```
Type the following and confirm that there is a .profile file in the folder:
```
ls -la
```
Go to System Preferences > Users & Groups.
Select your user and then Login Items.
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:
Reboot the computer.
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.