Another option is to add the optical drive via the command line. I just went through this issue. My tech support guy was awesome. This is the method he used. flexpoducs02-A# scope org <YourOrg>flexpoducs02-A /org # show boot-policyBoot Policy: ...
I'm running vmware 5.5 with firmware 2.2(1c) and a M81KR NIC. Booting is with local storage, so I can't confirm if this will work with features like boot from SAN.