dev-test-prod staging workflow for drupal with transport of database changes

Question

Hi I am looking for a best practice staging workflow for a four level staging environement for drupal:

dev->test->pre-prod->prod

I found this quite informative thread already Applying Updates to Multiple Drupal Sites

As the Teams will change especially on the test upwards it has to be pretty straight forward.

1. I guess we will move everting as far as posible through git or would rsync be better choice?

2. Is there some way to maintain some kind of central stage configuration where you just maintain the server adresses e.g. in on central place

3. How to move database changes without conflicting with productive content

Would be great if someone could share hints to some documentation of such a workflow.

Thanks in advance