Is it possible to use more than 4gb on 32bit Debian7?

Question

linux

Now we are using a 4gb ram server on debian 7, initially we chose 32bit due to the fact that at first the ram was 1gb. Now it is necessary to update the configuration to 8gb, and the question is, will a 32bit system support 8gb ram? (I know that windows does not support above 4gb on 32bit systems, but I don’t know about linux how things are with this).
PS To switch to 64bit, you need to build the server again, and this is a sea of ​​​​settings that were made in the 32bit version ... Yes, and the IP changes with the provider if you use a new os, as the region of the data center changes.

Answer 1

Make sure you have a PAE kernel: https://packages.debian.org/wheezy/linux-image-686-pae (emnip, there are no others for i386 wheezy)
Then it can do up to 64GB. But for one process only 4GB.

Answer 2

Formally, no, it’s still that crutch and there’s no point in using it in your case.

Answer 3

[as a perversion]
I have considerable experience in reinstalling the system "hot" (albeit within the same architecture, but it will come with time).
If downtimes are allowed + there is access via IPMI, then the issue is completely solvable.
Well, about PAE (which, by the way, is also in Windows) has already been written above, yes ...