You need at least that FDQN of your vCenter server is resolvable and if you don't have DNS server in your lab, try setting up host files... and about AD, if you don't have Active Directory domain or the vCenter Server belongs to a workgroup, not all functionality is available.
To see list of software requirements and best practices to install vCenter Server, check this KB: article: Installing vCenter Server 5.5 best practices (2052334)