Creating a CNAME record for each of the domain names or subdomains that you've got in a hosting account will enable you to direct it to a different domain/subdomain. The forwarded domain address will lose all its records - A, MX and so on, and will take the records of the domain address it is being forwarded to. In this light, you cannot set up a CNAME record to direct your domain to a third-party provider and retain a working e-mail service with the first hosting provider. It's also essential to know that a CNAME record is always a string of words and not a number as it is regularly confused with the A record of the Internet domain being redirected. One of the main uses of a CNAME record is to point a domain name which you own through one provider to the servers of some other company when you have created an Internet site with the latter. This way, the website will appear under your own domain address, not under some subdomain provided by the third-party company.