I have been keeping the vmdk's up to date for the latest versions of unRAID. I can post them here if there is any interest. It works quicker and more easily than plop. Just set up esxi to boot to the vmdk and pass through your USB drive.
Link to vmdk files.
unRAIDServer-x86_64_v_6_1_9
unRAIDServer-x86_64_v_6_2
unRAIDServer-x86_64_v_6_2_1
unRAIDServer-x86_64_v_6_2_2
unRAIDServer-x86_64_v_6_2_3
I have passed my CyberPower USB directly through to unRAID for testing before and it worked well. The issue that you are going to have is that you have to chose between the rest of your ESXi host shutting down correctly, or unRAID shutting down correctly.
My hope is that the openVMTools plugin is updated at some point which would correct the issue.
I have been keeping the vmdk's up to date for the latest versions of unRAID. I can post them here if there is any interest. It works quicker and more easily than plop. Just set up esxi to boot to the vmdk and pass through your USB drive.
Link to vmdk files.
unRAIDServer-x86_64_v_6_1_9
unRAIDServer-x86_64_v_6_2
unRAIDServer-x86_64_v_6_2_1
Yes. This is still required after the release of 6.2.
I implemented your solution for the m1015 and it resolved the issue.
Here is a link to my VMDK with the solution already implemented:
unRAIDServer-x86_64_v_6_2
I have been updating my VMDK using winimage as new releases come out. You can just replace the bzimage, bzroot, and the new bzroot-gui files in your VMDK each time there is a new release. I can post mine after each update if there is interest.
Edit: Here are my VMDKs for 6.1.9 and 6.2.
unRAIDServer-x86_64_v_6_1_9
unRAIDServer-x86_64_v_6_2
Same issue here. I have the exact same setup. ESXi with unRAID running as a VM. LSI card is passed through to unRAID and flashed to IT mode. I upgraded to 6.2 and unRAID sees the LSI card but no HDDs. I just started perusing the log files. I'll let you know if I find the cause.
In the mean time I rolled back to 6.1.9 by replacing my bzimage and bzroot files with the 6.1.9 versions and everything came right back.