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I would like to place my VMware ESXi 4.1 server in a data center but I'm concerned that assigning a public IP to the host to enable remote management over the net (with VMware vSphere client or SSH) might leave the server vulnerable to attacks. Is there a better/safer way for a person with a limited budget to remotely manage a VMware ESXi 4.1 server over the net. Please note I do not have access to a firewall appliance to configure VPN.

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you have means to pay for a server in a data center, but yet you cannot get your hands on a firewall? – gravyface Oct 14 '11 at 0:46
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There isn't any way to do this effectively. ESXi does have a firewall built in, so you could in theory lock down the management interface to your remote IP addresses, but if your IP address ever changes... too bad.

You need to have some way to VPN into the network and put the ESXi interface on a private network.

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Have you considered a free firewall such as PFSense? You could consider running it as a VM on the same server if you didn't want to dedicate a box or possibly incur additional monthly costs in the datacenter.

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would this allow me to secure the host or the guest machines? – jmm312 Oct 14 '11 at 11:25
@jmm312 - what you do is you install PFSense and then attach the public IP address to an interface inside PFSense. Then, on your virtual switch you attach the internal interface of pfsense, and enable the management interface on that internal switch. That way your management network is not exposed. This can also be used for protecting your entire virtual network and is what we've done a few times. – Mark Henderson♦ Oct 17 '11 at 0:17
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