VMWare ESXi 4.0 by default has ssh disabled and it is not supported, however it is possible to run ssh.
If you just need to access the console of ESXi, you can do the following:
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1. At the console of the ESXi host, press ALT-F1 to access the console window.
2. Type unsupported in the console and then press Enter (you will not see the text you type in)
3. If you typed the word unsupported, you will see the Tech Support Mode warning and a password prompt.
4. Type the root password
If you need full ssh access, continue with the steps below:
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5. At the~ # prompt, type vi /etc/inetd.conf
6. Uncomment the line that begins with #ssh (remove the #) and save the file.
NOTE: In ESXi 4 there are two lines; one for IP v4 and the other for IP v6. Update the appropriate line.
7. To make the chnage take effect you can restart the inetd process (or just reboot the ESXi host).
8. To restart inetd, run ps -ef | grep inetd to determine the process ID for the inetd process.
9. Run kill -HUP < process_id > and inetd will be reloaded and will allow ssh connections.
