Hello,

It has been a while since I was really doing something new with VMWare, but as I had the need to install some new Servers, I also was looking for better ways on integrating oem.tgz and other features. For that, I stumbled upon an very cool and useful Linux Build Script for ESXi, made by the User Varazir. After this How To you're going to hold an ISO Installer with SSH, FTP, RSYNC, WGET and the Community Unified Driver Pack 1.1.0 oem.tgz in your Hands. Or an USB Stick with the same features - as Live Boot or Installer. Your choice.

Download:
VMware-VMvisor-InstallerCD-3.5.0_Update_5-207095.i386.iso: Vmware.com / ESXi 3.5 Download Section
Mkesxiiso.sh: http://varazir.mine.nu/esxi/
CommunityUnifiedDriverPack_v1.1.0_U3-123629.oem.gz: http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3i/Custom_oem.tgz/CommunityUnifiedDriverPack_v1.1.0_U3-123629.oem.gz

What you also need:
An english (!) speaking and recent Ubuntu Version with installed mkisofs.
You can use the VMWare Player for that ;-).

How To:
Copy all the files into the /tmp Folder of the Ubuntu Installation.
Rename the CommunityUnifiedDriverPack_v1.1.0_U3-123629.oem.gz to oem.tgz
Give chmod +x to the latest Mkesxiiso.sh (in my case: chmod +x mkesxiaio_3.9.1.sh).
Run sudo ./mkesxiaio_3.9.1.sh
Now the Script is going to walk you through the build of the ESXi System.

Thanks to Varazir and www.vm-help.com its finally very easy to build an custom system!

Addition: Add User to installed ESXi:
If you got an installed ESXi 3.5 and want to have an second User to use ssh and ftp instead of "root only", do this:
userdelete the old additional VMWare User you created. Create it a new with: useradd Username -M -d /
Wit that command you create the new user and put its root folder into "/" (root).
Problem why an normal user can't access ssh is, that VMWare does erase the home Folder on every boot.
You should also change the User Password on creation with passwd Username...