Systems and methods for managing communication in an IP network between a server and a probe that does not maintain an IP address by selectively restricting which IP addresses that are identified as active in the network may be borrowed for the probes. Restriction of IP addresses may include a black list to exclude specific IP addresses, a white list from which IP addresses can be drawn or both. This permits control over which IP addresses may be borrowed by probes, reducing false alarms, alerts or other network concerns caused by unexpected IP traffic on a particular IP address in the network.