Hi, All:
RFC7285 speaks a lot about client authentication, e.g., section 15.3.2
"
   For deployment scenarios where client authentication is desired to
   address risk type (2), ALTO requires that HTTP Digestion
   Authentication is supported to achieve ALTO client authentication to
   limit the number of parties with whom ALTO information is directly
   shared.  TLS client authentication may also be supported.  Depending
   on the use case and scenario, an ALTO server may apply other access
   control techniques to restrict access to its services.  Access
   control can also help to prevent Denial-of-Service attacks by
   arbitrary hosts from the Internet.  See [ALTO-DEPLOYMENT] for a more
   detailed discussion on this issue.

"
Section 8.3.5
"

8.3.5.  Authentication and Encryption



   ALTO server implementations as well as ALTO client implementations

   MUST support the "https" URI scheme [RFC2818] and Transport Layer

   Security (TLS) [RFC5246].  See Section 15.1.2 for security

   considerations and Section 16 for manageability considerations

   regarding the usage of HTTPS/TLS.



   For deployment scenarios where client authentication is desired, HTTP

   Digest Authentication MUST be supported.  TLS Client Authentication

   is the preferred mechanism if it is available.

"
But it only briefly touches server authentication at the end of section 16.2.4:
"

   Multiple ALTO servers can be deployed for scalability.  A centralized

   configuration database may be used to ensure they are providing the

   desired ALTO information with appropriate security controls.  The

   ALTO information (e.g., network maps and cost maps) being served by

   each ALTO server, as well as security policies (HTTP authentication,

   TLS client and server authentication, TLS encryption parameters)

   intended to serve the same information should be monitored for

   consistency.

"
I think server authentication is important in the server to server 
communication, since the client needs to
Make sure the ALTO information is generated by appropriate ALTO server
See section 5.5 of RFC7165,
"

5.5.  ALTO



   Application-Layer Traffic Optimization (ALTO) is a system for

   distributing network topology information to end devices, so that

   those devices can modify their behavior to have a lower impact on the

   network [RFC6708].  The ALTO protocol distributes topology

   information in the form of JSON objects carried in HTTP [RFC2616]

   [ALTO].  The basic version of ALTO is simply a client-server

   protocol, so simple use of HTTPS suffices for this case [RFC2818].

   However, there is beginning to be some discussion of use cases for

   ALTO in which these JSON objects will be distributed through a

   collection of intermediate servers before reaching the client, while

   still preserving the ability of the client to authenticate the

   original source of the object.  Even the base ALTO protocol notes

   that "ALTO Clients obtaining ALTO information through redistribution

   must be able to validate the received ALTO information" to ensure

   that it was generated by an appropriate ALTO server.



   In this case, the security requirements are straightforward.  JOSE

   objects carrying ALTO payloads will need to bear digital signatures

   from the originating servers, which will be bound to certificates

   attesting to the identities of the servers.  There is no requirement

   for confidentiality in this case, since ALTO information is generally

   public.

"
It did discussed server to server communication case.
I am wondering how ALTO information is carried in the JOSE objects, is there 
JOSE protocol extension needed?
Also I am wondering whether ALTO OAM need to consider the use case where ALTO 
information distributed between
A set of ALTO server or intermediate server and provide some configuration 
definition for both client authentication and server authentication.

-Qin
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