Hi there,
The management network is how you would connect to your ESXi host to manage it, it's also how ESXi hosts in a cluster talk to each other and the vCenter Server if present.
Once you've run through the install of ESXi and it's successfully booted up you'll come to a yellow/grey screen called the Direct Console User Interface (DCUI) which gives you an overview of the hosts brief spec and management network details. Assuming you have no DHCP set up the management address on first look at the DCUI will probably be an APIPA address. So to configure the management network hit F2 and enter the root password which will allow you to configure the system.
One of the options on the menu is 'Configure Management Network' so arrow down and hit enter, then run through and configure each option in turn to give your host an IP address, hostname etc. I suggest if you're just starting out to just choose one of your NICs to configure to get you u pand running. Once your done hit ESC and then it's probably a good idea to Test the Management Network using the menu option, which will test the connectivity.
You should then be able to connect to your host using the vSphere Client via the management IP you configured.
The management network is entirely unrelated to any VMs or any other traffic you require, it's purely to manage the host.
Once you're connected via the vSphere client you can set up your virtual networking and build your VMs to do what you require, feel free to post again if you need assistance with this bit too.
Hope this helps!
vM
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