VMWare ESX / Infrastructure Enabling Root SSH

Enable SSH access to VMware ESX server

To allow the root user to login to a VMware ESX Server over the network using SSH, do the following:

1. Go to the service console on the physical server & login
2. vi /etc/ssh/sshd_config
3. Change the line that says PermitRootLogin from “no” to “yes”
4. Restart sshd with command /etc/init.d/sshd restart

Source:
http://www.kreslavsky.com/2007/12/enable-ssh-access-to-vmware-esx-server.html