Draining erroneous packets

A method performed by an integrated circuit (IC) unit, comprising:

• receiving an ingress stream of packets for processing;
• detecting an error in a packet;
• generating, by an interrupt controller, an internal drain indicator to trigger handling of the error internally by the IC unit;
• in response to the internal drain indicator, blocking the ingress stream to stop receiving new packets;
• marking each of the packets being processed by the IC unit as erroneous;
• draining the marked packets to prevent the error from propagating to a neighboring IC unit;
• and
• unblocking the ingress stream to continue receiving and processing additional packets upon draining the marked packets.

An integrated circuit (IC) unit, comprising:

• processing logic circuitry operable to:
• process packets received in an ingress stream;
• detect that a packet has an error;
• and
• generate an internal error trigger to an interrupt controller to indicate the packet is erroneous;
• the interrupt controller operable to:
• assert an internal drain indicator to indicate handling of the error internally by the IC unit upon receiving the internal error trigger;
• egress packets drain logic circuitry operable to:
• mark each of the packets to indicate that the packet is erroneous based on the internal drain indicator;
• and
• drain each of the marked packets by dropping the marked packets or sending the marked packet on an egress stream based on a configuration specific to the IC unit;
• and
• ingress packets blocker circuitry operable to:
• block the ingress stream to stop receiving new packets based on the internal drain indicator;
• and
• unblock the ingress stream to receive and process additional packets upon draining of the marked packets.