Is it possible to manage ESX servers from Linux?

VMware vSphere Client can not run in wine. Neither in Mono.

What tools are you using to create, start/stop new VMs, connect on the console without VMware vSphere Client?

Solution 1:

Yes, using VMware Workstation you can "login" and use it like a vSphere client.

Also, you can start VMware VMplayer from the command line with -h flag this will give you control over one virtual machine at a time. More about using VMplayer as remote console in here

Solution 2:

VMware's own VCLI will take care of most non-graphical tasks. For viewing the console, though, you're stuck with Windows unfortunately.