Here are just the parts of the log regarding the CDROM and ide0:0.
2013-01-25T16:26:32.385Z| vmx| DICT ide0:0.present = TRUE
2013-01-25T16:26:32.385Z| vmx| DICT ide0:0.fileName = /vmfs/devices/cdrom/mpx.vmhba2:C0:T0:L0
2013-01-25T16:26:32.385Z| vmx| DICT ide0:0.deviceType = atapi-cdrom
2013-01-25T16:26:32.385Z| vmx| DICT ide0:0.startConnected = TRUE
2013-01-25T16:26:32.385Z| vmx| DICT ide0:0.clientDevice = FALSE
2013-01-25T16:26:32.558Z| vmx| SCSI DEVICE (ide0:0): Computed value of ide0:0.useBounceBuffers: default
2013-01-25T16:26:32.558Z| vmx| DISKUTIL: ide0:0 : capacity=0
2013-01-25T16:26:32.558Z| vmx| DISKUTIL: ide0:0 : geometry=0/0/0
2013-01-25T16:26:32.731Z| vcpu-0| CDROM: Connecting ide0:0 to '/vmfs/devices/cdrom/mpx.vmhba2:C0:T0:L0'. img=0 raw=0
2013-01-25T16:26:32.731Z| vcpu-0| CDROM-SG: Opening device '/vmfs/devices/cdrom/mpx.vmhba2:C0:T0:L0'
2013-01-25T16:26:32.743Z| vcpu-0| SGLIN: /vmfs/devices/cdrom/mpx.vmhba2:C0:T0:L0 is not a block device
2013-01-25T16:26:32.743Z| vcpu-0| SGLIN: Failed to get maximum transfer length for '/vmfs/devices/cdrom/mpx.vmhba2:C
2013-01-25T16:26:32.744Z| vcpu-0| SGLIN: Using default maximum transfer length (131072 bytes)
2013-01-25T16:26:32.747Z| vcpu-0| CDROM: Checking initial physical media state...
2013-01-25T16:26:32.749Z| vcpu-0| CDROM: initial physical CDROM state is 4 (sense)
2013-01-25T16:27:01.732Z| vmx| CDROM ide0:0: CMD 0x5a (MODE SENSE(10)) FAILED (key 0x5 asc 0x24 ascq 0)
2013-01-25T16:30:27.071Z| vmx| ide0:0: Command *UNKNOWN (0x4a)* took 1.731 seconds (ok)
on the ESXi 5.0 box after checking if I can mount CD i got this:
~ # /sbin/vsish -e set /vmkModules/iso9660/mount mpx.vmhba2:C0:T0:L0
VSISHCmdSet():Set failed: Not supported
~ #