function Connect-GpfsServer {
    [CmdletBinding(DefaultParameterSetName = 'Credential')]
    param(
        [Parameter(Mandatory, Position = 0)]
        [string]$Server,

        [Parameter()]
        [int]$Port = 443,

        [Parameter()]
        [ValidateSet('v2')]
        [string]$ApiVersion = 'v2',

        [Parameter(Mandatory, ParameterSetName = 'Credential')]
        [PSCredential]$Credential,

        [Parameter(Mandatory, ParameterSetName = 'UserPass')]
        [string]$Username,

        [Parameter(Mandatory, ParameterSetName = 'UserPass')]
        [SecureString]$Password,

        [Parameter()]
        [switch]$UseSsl,

        [Parameter()]
        [switch]$SkipCertificateCheck,

        [Parameter()]
        [int]$TimeoutSeconds = 30,

        [Parameter()]
        [switch]$PassThru
    )

    if ($PSCmdlet.ParameterSetName -eq 'UserPass') {
        $Credential = [PSCredential]::new($Username, $Password)
    }

    $protocol = if ($UseSsl) { 'https' } else { 'https' }
    $baseUrl   = '{0}://{1}:{2}' -f $protocol, $Server, $Port

    $plainPass    = $Credential.GetNetworkCredential().Password
    $credBytes    = [System.Text.Encoding]::UTF8.GetBytes('{0}:{1}' -f $Credential.UserName, $plainPass)
    $encodedCred  = [Convert]::ToBase64String($credBytes)

    $script:GpfsSession = @{
        Server               = $Server
        Port                 = $Port
        BaseUrl              = $baseUrl
        ApiVersion           = $ApiVersion
        SkipCertificateCheck = $SkipCertificateCheck.IsPresent
        TimeoutSeconds       = $TimeoutSeconds
        Headers              = @{
            Authorization = "Basic $encodedCred"
            Accept        = 'application/json'
        }
    }

    try {
        $cluster = Invoke-GpfsApiRequest -Method GET -Endpoint 'cluster'
        Write-Verbose "Connected to GPFS cluster: $($cluster.cluster.clusterName)"
    }
    catch {
        $script:GpfsSession = $null
        throw "Failed to connect to GPFS server '$Server': $_"
    }

    if ($PassThru) {
        [PSCustomObject]@{
            Server     = $Server
            Port       = $Port
            ApiVersion = $ApiVersion
            Connected  = $true
        }
    }
    else {
        Write-Host "Connected to GPFS server: $Server ($ApiVersion)" -ForegroundColor Green
    }
}