Solution posted for Exchange repeatedly losing connection to server
By Diane Ross | October 14, 2014
Emily D posted the following solution on Microsoft Answers today for Exchange repeatedly losing connecton to server. Visit this link to join in the discussion.
We disabled EWS Digest Authentication in our Exchange server over the weekend. So far, Outlook 2011 on a MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro has stayed connected to Exchange without a disconnect or prompt for password. If the lid of the laptop is closed and then reopened, Outlook 2011 reconnects with no problems and the dreaded password prompt box does NOT show up.If you are wanting to disable EWS Digest Authentication in your Exchange server make CERTAIN that no other services use EWS. If you are not sure what other technologies in your environment use EWS, then research it.
Let us know if disabling EWS works for your environment as well. I did further testing today and setup an existing Exchange email address in Outlook 2011 for the first time (as an end user would) and I didn’t need to add the Directory Services address or run the script to disable autodiscovery. Autodiscovery kicks in right away and sees the EWS address in the Active Directory Server field within Outlook 2011 settings. I put the mac to sleep, woke it up and it connected right up to Exchange…no prompt to enter user name and password again. I also find that choosing to download headers only in the email settings, loads the end users email much quicker….especially for those users that have GIGABYTES of email.