Assigning static IP to guest VM on NAT host network using virsh

First, find out the MAC address of the VM you want to assign the static IP addresses to:

$ virsh  dumpxml  $VM_NAME | grep 'mac address'

Then, update the ip address for the virtual mac of the VM

$ virsh net-update default add ip-dhcp-host "<host mac='11:22:33:44:55:66' name='FOO' ip='192.168.1.134' />" --live --config

This would always assign 192.168.1.134 to the VM FOO running with a mac 11:22:33:44:55:66.

Finally, restart your VM to get the VM running with the specified IP.

$ virsh shutdown foo
$ virsh start foo

To troubleshoot any issues, begin by checking the IP assigned to the VM by dhcp

$ virsh net-dhcp-leases default