You are unable to add a USB device to a virtual machine.
Even though the USB Controller has been added to the virtual machine, the USB device is not listed.
The lsusb command indicates that the USB device is being detected by the ESX/ESXi host. The output looks similar to:
Bus 01 Device 04: ID 0951:1642 Kingston Technology
Bus 01 Device 03: ID 0424:2514 Standard Microsystems Corp. USB 2.0 Hub
Bus 01 Device 01: ID 0000:0000
Bus 05 Device 02: ID 0624:0248 Avocent Corp.
Bus 05 Device 01: ID 0000:0000
Bus 03 Device 02: ID 04d9:1400 Holtek Semiconductor, Inc.
The usbarbitrator log in /tmp/vmware-root (/var/log/usb.log in ESXi 5.0) contains entries similar to:
[2011-04-12 07:11:19.948 20965B90 warning 'Libs'] USBGL: Error connecting to arbitrator socket: No such file or directory (2)
[2011-04-12 07:11:19.948 20965B90 warning 'Libs'] USBGL: Giving up on connecting to USB arbitrator
Stopping and starting the usbarbitrator daemon under /etc/init.d/ does not resolve the issue.
Apr 12 06:49:40.443: usbArb| USBArb: Device 0:name:Kingston\ DT\ 101\ G2 vid:0951 pid:1642 path:1/2/0 speed:high family:storage id:1000409511642 owner:(null)
Apr 12 06:54:43.040: usbArb| USBArbPipeConnected: Connected to client, socket:9
[2011-04-12 07:11:19.948 20965B90 warning 'Libs'] USBGL: Giving up on connecting to USB arbitrator