Nexus Magento 2 Manual | Installation, Identity Groups & Order Blocking

Chapter 01

Overview

Vermontas Nexus is not an automatic fraud scoring platform. Nexus adds an identity and control layer for orders. The technical foundation is integrated into the existing Magento environment on a project-specific basis. Nexus shows relationships, stores deliberately confirmed identity knowledge and gives the administrator clear actions based on that context.

Magento knows orders and customer accounts. Nexus knows how they relate. The same email, the same IP or the same customer account is initially an observed data relationship. Only when the administrator deliberately confirms multiple attributes as belonging together does this become a permanently stored identity group.

Individual implementation: This manual describes the general Nexus foundation. Any project-specific adjustments or additions included in a particular installation depend on the agreed implementation.

01 // Observation

Recognize relationships

Direct matches through customer account, email and IP become visible for the current order.

02 // Knowledge

Confirm identity

Multiple customer accounts, email addresses and IP addresses can be stored permanently as one identity group.

03 // Boundary

Set a deliberate boundary

Individual attributes or an entire active identity group can block new orders server side.

Feature scope

Identity context directly from the Magento order
Related orders through the same customer account, email or IP
Confirmed identity groups made up of multiple customer accounts, email addresses and IP addresses
Order blocking by customer ID, email and IP with deliberately enabled criteria
Complete blocking of an active identity group
Assignment of an existing guest order to an existing customer account
Separate ACL permissions for context, blocking, assignment, identity groups and configuration

Abusive reviews: Nexus does not modify a review system. If review eligibility is derived from orders, Nexus can stop known blocked identities already during order placement. This places the control before any later review eligibility derived from the order.

Chapter 02

Requirements

Component	Requirement	Note
Magento	Magento 2	Nexus works in the Magento admin and in the server side order process.
PHP	Compatible with the Magento environment in use	Nexus requires no additional runtime or external service.
Frontend	No theme dependency	The core functions are independent of Hyvä and also work with classic Magento frontends.
Access	Magento admin and shell	Shell access is required for installation, compilation, static content deployment and cache operations.

No additional platform required. Nexus uses Magento orders, customer accounts and its own vermonta_nexus_* tables. No external fraud service or additional database is required.

Technical integration: When Nexus is implemented by Vermonta, installation, setup and technical verification are handled as part of the project.

Chapter 03

Installation

The Nexus technical foundation is integrated under app/code/Vermonta/Nexus. For an individual implementation, Vermonta handles installation and integration into the existing Magento environment. The following steps and commands also serve as a technical reference for administration, maintenance and later updates.

Provide the Nexus foundation

The supplied Nexus files are integrated under app/code/Vermonta/Nexus.

Enable the Magento module

Enable Vermonta_Nexus and run the Magento setup.

Compile dependency injection

Run Magento compilation, especially on production systems.

Deploy static content

Run Magento static content deployment. This step is explicitly part of the recommended installation process.

Flush the cache

Finally, flush the Magento cache and sign in to the admin again if necessary.

Complete installation sequence

Shell

php bin/magento module:enable Vermonta_Nexus
php bin/magento setup:upgrade
php bin/magento setup:di:compile
php bin/magento setup:static-content:deploy -f
php bin/magento cache:flush

Optional: deploy static content only for required locales

Example

php bin/magento setup:static-content:deploy -f de_DE de_CH en_US fr_FR it_IT

Verify installation

Shell

php bin/magento module:status Vermonta_Nexus

After a successful installation, the following areas appear under Customers → Vermontas Nexus the areas Order Blocks und Identity Groups.

Chapter 04

Configuration

The basic settings are located under Stores → Configuration → Sales → Vermontas Nexus. The configuration is intentionally kept small.

Setting	Meaning	Note
Enable Order Blocking	Enables server side checking of individual rules and blocked identity groups.	Enabled by default.
Blocked Order Message	Neutral message shown to the customer when Nexus blocks an order.	The text should not disclose internal blocking criteria.
Admin Block Notice	Internal message shown when the blocking check is triggered in the Magento admin.	Visible only to administrators.

Website scope: Nexus configuration can be maintained at Magento Default or Website scope. Store View specific configuration is not provided for these fields.

Chapter 05

Nexus in the order

Open an order under Sales → Orders. A dedicated section named Vermontas Nexus is available directly in the order view. Which actions are visible depends on the ACL permissions of the signed in administrator.

Recognize Identity Context

Shows direct relationships to other orders and matching active identity groups.

Set boundaries Order Block

Opens a new blocking rule and pre-fills available values from the order as suggestions.

Assign Assign Customer Account

Deliberately assigns a guest order to an existing Magento customer account.

Nexus deliberately does not place these actions in Magento's global order button bar, but in a dedicated section within the order view.

Chapter 06

Identity Context

The identity context examines the current order and looks for direct matches through customer account, email address and IP address.

Related Orders

Another order appears as related when it directly shares at least one of the following attributes with the current order:

the same customer account
the same email address
the same IP address

If an order shares multiple attributes, the matching reasons are shown together. The list is sorted by order date in descending order.

No transitive inference. Related Orders shows only direct relationships to the currently open order. If order A shares an email with B and A shares an IP with C, C is not added to B as a direct relationship solely because of that chain.

Matching Identity Groups

Active identity groups are shown separately. A group matches when the current order's customer account, email address or IP address matches at least one stored attribute in the group.

Observed relationships and confirmed knowledge remain separate. Related Orders shows direct Magento data relationships. Identity Groups, by contrast, store knowledge deliberately confirmed by the administrator.

Create an identity group directly from an order

A new group can be created directly from the identity context. Customer account, order email and IP address are available as selectable attributes. Existing values are preselected. The new group is created as active, but it is not blocked automatically.

Chapter 07

Order Blocks

Manage order blocks under Customers → Vermontas Nexus → Order Blocks. A rule can use customer ID, email address and IP address.

Blocking criteria

Criterion	Effect	Note
Use customer account	Compares the customer ID of the new order with the stored customer ID.	Requires an existing customer account.
Use email address	Compares the order email address case insensitively.	The email address must be valid.
Use IP address	Compares the detected IP address with the stored IP.	IP checking should be used deliberately.

OR logic If multiple criteria are enabled in an active rule, a match on one enabled criterion is enough to block the order.

Create an order block from an order

When the blocking form is opened from an order, Nexus pre-fills the available customer ID, email address and IP address as suggestions. The actual criteria switches deliberately remain disabled. The administrator decides which attribute should actually become part of the block.

Enable at least one criterion. A rule cannot be saved if customer account, email and IP are all disabled.

When is the check performed?

Nexus performs the check server side immediately before Magento's Place Order process. If an active individual rule or an active blocked identity group matches, the order is stopped with the configured message.

Chapter 08

Assign guest orders to a customer account

An existing guest order can be assigned to an existing Magento customer account. The account is selected through a Magento customer grid.

Open the guest order

Open the required order and choose Assign Customer Account.

Select a customer account

Find the target account in the Magento customer grid. The account email does not need to match the order email.

Confirm assignment

Nexus sets the order's customer ID and then marks the order as no longer being a guest order.

What is changed

customer_id is set to the selected customer account.
customer_is_guest is set to false .
An internal comment with customer ID and admin user is added to the order history.

What remains unchanged

Order email
Billing address
Shipping address
Order items
Prices and historical order data

No reassignment: If an order is already assigned to a customer account and is no longer a guest order, Nexus prevents another assignment.

Chapter 09

Identity Groups

Manage identity groups under Customers → Vermontas Nexus → Identity Groups. They form Nexus's persistent knowledge layer.

A group can contain

multiple Magento customer accounts
multiple email addresses
multiple IP addresses

Customer accounts are selected through a Magento customer grid. Email addresses and IP addresses are maintained as values. Invalid email or IP values are not saved as group attributes.

Field	Meaning
Name	Name of the confirmed identity.
Internal Note	Free internal note for administrators.
Active	Only active groups are considered in the identity context and can block orders.
Block Identity Group	Sets one shared boundary for the entire active group.

An identity group does not change historical Magento data. It stores an additional relationship between existing identity attributes that has been confirmed by the administrator.

Chapter 10

Block an entire identity group

An identity group can be blocked as a whole. For this, the group must be active and Block Identity Group must be enabled.

Blocking logic

For a new order, Nexus checks whether the customer ID, email address or IP address matches an attribute of an active blocked identity group. One match is enough to block the order.

New attributes are covered automatically. If another customer account, email address or IP address is later added to an already blocked active identity group, the existing group block automatically applies to that new attribute as well.

Inactive group

If the identity group is inactive, the group block has no effect. An inactive group is also not shown as a matching active identity group in the identity context.

ACL: Editing an identity group requires the group permission. Setting or removing the group block additionally requires the Order Blocking permission.

Chapter 11

Permissions and ACL

Magento administrator roles can be granted Nexus functions separately.

ACL resource	Function
`Vermonta_Nexus::block`	Manage order blocks and set group blocks.
`Vermonta_Nexus::context`	View an order's identity context.
`Vermonta_Nexus::assign`	Assign guest orders to customer accounts.
`Vermonta_Nexus::group`	Manage identity groups.
`Vermonta_Nexus::config`	Open and change Nexus configuration.

The permissions are available in Magento role management under the section Vermontas Nexus.

Chapter 12

Data storage and languages

Nexus tables

Table	Purpose
`vermonta_nexus_block`	Individual order blocks and their enabled criteria.
`vermonta_nexus_identity_group`	Identity groups with active status, block status, name and internal note.
`vermonta_nexus_identity_group_link`	Linked customer IDs, email addresses and IP addresses of an identity group.

Nexus uses only its own vermonta_nexus_* resources for blocking and identity groups. Migration from older Order Identity modules is not part of the extension.

Languages

Locale	Language
`de_DE`	German
`de_CH`	German, Switzerland
`en_US`	English through the Magento source strings
`fr_FR`	French
`it_IT`	Italian

Chapter 13

Updates and troubleshooting

Update process

Before an update, back up the existing module directory. Then replace the supplied files and run the Magento setup again.

Typical final steps after a Nexus update

php bin/magento setup:upgrade
php bin/magento setup:di:compile
php bin/magento setup:static-content:deploy -f
php bin/magento cache:flush

Nexus menu is missing after installation

First check whether the module is enabled and whether the administrator role has the required ACL permissions.

Shell

php bin/magento module:status Vermonta_Nexus
php bin/magento cache:flush

An order block does not trigger

Check whether order blocking is enabled in Nexus configuration.
Check whether the individual blocking rule is active.
Check whether at least one of the required criteria has been explicitly enabled.
For an identity group, both Active and Block Identity Group must be enabled.
Check whether the actual customer ID, email address or IP address matches the stored value.

An order does not appear under Related Orders

The identity context shows only direct matches to the currently open order. An indirect relationship through a third order, or merely membership in the same identity group, does not create another entry under Related Orders.

An identity group does not appear in the identity context

Only active identity groups are considered there. In addition, at least one stored group attribute must directly match the current order.

An order cannot be reassigned

Orders already assigned to a customer account cannot be assigned to another account again through Nexus guest order assignment.

Chapter 14

Support and adjustments

Nexus is provided as part of an individual Magento implementation. The scope of setup, project-specific adjustments, handover and subsequent support depends on the agreed project scope. Vermonta can be contacted directly for extensions or technical questions.

Vermonta IT- & Media Agency Request Nexus implementation or support →
Go to Nexus page →

For technical questions, the Magento environment in use, the affected order and a precise description of the expected and actual behavior are particularly helpful.