On 01/27/2016 11:58 AM, Yasha Karant wrote:
> At a previous epoch, both VMware and VirtualBox allowed a MS Win guest 
> to "share" the Linux host 802.11 Internet connection, typically 
> through NAT if my memory serves. ...

Under KVM on my laptop I can use the host's wifi connection through the 
default libvirt NAT networking.  Works great, and as far as the Windows 
VM is concerned there is no difference between a wired and a wireless 
connection, since it is as if it is on the other side of libvirt's NAT 
'router' stack.  Wired or wireless the Windows 7 VM has connectivity, 
using the virtio-provided networking driver.  In the virtual machine 
manager interface, the Virtual Network Interface is set u as 'Virtual 
network 'default' : NAT' and Device Model virtio.  I have an OpenVPN set 
up in the Windows 7 VM that then bridges to the LAN, rather than trying 
to get bridging to work. This way the VM is always on the desired LAN 
even if I am off-campus.  In Windows' Device Manager, the device shows 
up as 'Red Hat VirtIO Ethernet Adapter.'  I did *not* have to do 
anything special to get this working when I installed the VM, but do 
realize that I installed the VM several years ago under CentOS 6 and 
have migrated it over to EL7, so I'm not sure if the installation 
portion of that has changed a lot.

> .... However, one is then forced to a hypervisor controlling the 
> hardware (security issues) along with the additional overhead of a 
> full time hypervisor.
>

KVM is often considered something of a hybrid between a type 1 and type 
2 hypervisor.  But both VMware Player and VirtualBox are type 2 
hypervisors, and QEMU/KVM can be considered type 2.

But the NIC is not being 'shared' in a strict sense; rather, the NIC is 
connected to a virtual switch port of the hypervisor, and the VM's (and 
the host) are connected to other virtual ports.  Cisco has even made a 
business of this for VMware ESX in the form of the Nexus 1000V, and 
there is an open source work-alike called OpenVswitch. In both cases, 
the networking topology is also virtualized, with the phyiscal host's 
ports being connected to virtual ports on the virtualized switches.

Why don't you actually try a Win 7 install on KVM and see what you 
think?  Only you can answer if it will work for you.  It does work, and 
well, for me.