Best way to update/upgrade things in the drupal database I know this is a broad topic, but maybe there is a good way/module doing this. I want to make "automated" updates to a drupal installation. This includes updates of nearly everthing (contenttypes, user-permissions, content itself, views, module-settings). 

I would love to have the "update-information" outside the db (e.g. php-code). I could imagine doing that via an own update_module that implements MYUPDATEMODULE_update_xxx() functions for every update. But I fear coding complicated updates (views, large contentypes) "by hand". 

I've never used the Features module and don't know if this really fits my needs. Are there any other modules or workflows for something like that? Perfect would be something that lets me trigger the update via the console (e.g. using drush).
Features seems to be what the community is clustering around, and is well worth a look. You can use update hooks, but it can be complicated for large updates, as you fear. It also dosn't make it easy to reset values to a default. 

Features seems to be much simpler to use. It can't do everything but most core content can be exposed and managed via features. 

Features also has drush hooks. 

drush features-revert myfeature


Will set the system to reflect the content of myfeature. The down side of features is that it is still fairly immature, or more to the point many of the add on modules are immature, so sometimes code is a little buggy.