That should work fine. I've built nested labs with a multi-node ESX cluster, a pair of 8.x netapp sims, and vcenter with VSC, and the rapid cloning utility, VSC backup & recovery, and the VAAI plugin all worked fine. Setup ESX on NetApp just like you would on real gear. Just remember loading OSs on VMs running off the sim will be really slow, but once you've built one cloning it with the RCU or VAAI takes only seconds.