3ware and esxi choked, but google knew the heimlich.

For my own posterity, I just nuked a openfiler install to opt for esxi 4.1 with SvSan. All test showed great results,tested with different system similar hardware, until I started the install on the actual server. Everything was listed as supported, yet after configuring the raid array and booting into Esxi, no soup for storage. Meh!

Google is your friend...

1. VMware ESX 4.0 Driver CD for AMCC 3ware RAID Controllers
2. How to install ESXi4.0 drivers on ESXi4.1?
3. vSphere Command-Line Interface Documentation

C:\temp>vihostupdate.pl -server 192.168.1.69 -username root --install --bundle ./AMCC_2.26.08.035vm40-offline_bundle-179560.zip

Bam, bam, thank you ma'am.

~enjoy