use the vmware vcenter converter standalone
once the machine is in your esxi server
power it off and connect a centos install cd as your cd and make sure its connected on start
power on the vm and hit esc at the vmware bios post
boot from your centos install cd Read more…
Never buy a Dell r410 without the hot swap option. The drive bays are only removable if you take the cover off of the server due to a retaining clip at the back of the hard drive sled.
In order to use vSphere properly over a SSH tunnel forward the following ports
If you still cannot connect with vSphere to your remote machine update your hosts file. For example, if your ESXi 4.0 server is named vmsrv1 edit your hosts file:
127.0.0.1 vmsrv1
With Windows your hosts file is located in C:\Windows\System32\Drivers\etc and under Linux /etc/hosts