Setting up a CNAME record for any of the domains or subdomains that you've got within a hosting account will enable you to direct it to a different domain/subdomain. The forwarded domain will lose all of its records - A, MX etc, and will take the records of the domain it's being pointed to. In this light, you simply can't set up a CNAME record to point your domain to a third-party company and maintain a functional e-mail service with the first hosting company. Also, it is important to note that a CNAME record is always a string of words and never a number as it's frequently wrongly identified as the A record of the domain name being forwarded. One of the primary uses of a CNAME record is to point a domain name that you own through one provider to the servers of some other company if you have set up a site with the latter. In this way, the site will appear under your own domain name, not under some subdomain provided by the third-party provider.
CNAME Records in Website Hosting
If you have a website hosting plan through our company and you want to set up a CNAME record, it'll take you a few clicks to get it done. You can access the DNS records for all domain addresses and subdomains hosted inside your account through the Hepsia CP that comes with each plan and adding a new record is as simple as clicking on a button, choosing the type, that will be CNAME in this case, entering the actual record value and saving the modification. If you have never added this sort of record before, we have a Help section with a detailed video tutorial you can watch, or you can just contact us and we'll assist you with this task. If you have set up a website using another company, you want to use a private URL for your webmail or you would like to designate a subdomain for use with the services of a different company, for example Google Apps, all it takes is creating a CNAME record with a few clicks inside your CP.
CNAME Records in Semi-dedicated Servers
If you have a semi-dedicated server from our company and you wish to create a CNAME record, it takes just a few mouse clicks to complete this task. The plans are handled through our in-house built Hepsia hosting CP in which you will discover a section dedicated to the DNS records of the domains and subdomains hosted within the account. To create a CNAME record, you will only have to select the record type and the hostname (domain or subdomain), key in where the latter will be pointed to and save the change. The new record will be active almost right away in our system and will propagate worldwide within a few hours. Editing or deleting an existing CNAME record in the account is just as simple and easy and takes a click. In case you experience any troubles, you can go through our in-depth help article, watch the short video on the topic that we have added in the Control Panel, or you can just contact us for assistance.