I am using vSphere 5.1 and SQL Server 2008 R2, maybe soon I will work on 5.5 and SQL 2012 scenario and will update.
As mentioned I have a vCenter 5.1 server and a standalone SQL Server 2008 R2 in lab with 2 ESXi Hosts, these hosts are part of a cluster and connected to a distributed switch.

We will start with preparing SQL Server 2008 R2.
1. Configure Ports:
Using SQL Server configuration manager, we will change the dynamic port to static. Remove any entry present in IP1 “TCP Dynamic Ports” and enter 1433 for “TCP Port”. Same changes in IPAll (scroll down to end), after the changes are done we need to restart the SQL service.
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