Is Active Directory a prerequisite for VCOPS, SRM, vSphere Replication, and VDP deployment?

Hi,

I guest this is my first post in the community

I'm trying to deploy ESXi, vCenter Server (virtual appliance), VCOPS, SRM, vSphere Replication, and VDP in a customer (all in version 5.1). They currently have no access to Active Directory Domain Services (or other directory services, such as LDAP) because the AD is managed by IT in HO (a multinational company). They also have no access to the authorized DNS servers.

For this deployment, I have a few (I hope) fundamental questions about VMware products implementation.

1. I know that ESXi & vCenter Server can be deployed without the existence of AD. However, can VCOPS, SRM, vSphere Replication, and VDP be deployed in the same manner (only using local auth)?
2. If they can be deployed with only local auth, will there be problem/loss in functionality in all the products (beside centralized auth and RBAC) ?
3. In the future, when the customer have access to AD (or create a new ADDS), will it be easy to change all the product configurations to use AD auth service (join domain) ?
4. Beside centralized auth, RBAC, and SSO (maybe?), is there any other fundamental benefit in using AD with VMware products (exclude VMware vCloud and friends) ?
5. They will deploy their DNS server instance (with the same domain name as the authorized DNS server). Since this is not the authorized DNS server, IT operations staff will still be using IP to connect to all VMware products. Thus, is there a benefit in deploying their own DNS server? Will it still be needed for VMware products  to talk to each other?
6. Will it just fine not to deploy a DNS server?

These questions have been on my nerve since last week. I don't have the resource to try and answer my own questions, so I hope you can share your thoughts and experiences with me.

Many thanks.

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Warm Regards,

Apenk