The basic managment console on the server lets you setup the network, DNS and initial security. Once the server is installed you pretty much leave it alone and control it from the Vsphere client.
One thing I did have a problem with is the disk setup, I missed the advanced setup and ended up using the whole disk instead of just a single partition so be carefull, luckily I had nothing of value on the disk before installing.
The install is about 70Mb and the server it self uses around 300 to 500Mb of RAM, which has left me with only 1.5Gb for the VM's. I have a copy of 2008 small business I want to play around with so I need to get another 2Gb I think.