Quick post to show how to enable ssh on an Esx 3.5 server

Directly on the Esx server type: Alt+F1. You'll see a dark screen.

Type unsopperted (it will be not displayed) and hit enter: the console will ask for root password. Fill it and then you'll be in the Esx terminal console.

Then edit this file:

vi /etc/inetd.conf

and uncomment

ssh     stream  tcp     nowait  root    /sbin/dropbearmulti

Restart the services with

services.sh restart 

or if it doesn't work, discover the process pid

ps aux | grep inetd

and restart it

kill -HUP <pid> 

You are now ready to access the server remotely through ssh

Some more details: http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3i/ESXi_enable_SSH.php