Yes, you can set up DMARC without using DKIM and solely using DMARC and SPF. In this situation, the DKIM check always fails, leaving DMARC authentication to SPF check and SPF identifier alignment, which is still functional but not ideal.
Equation for DMARC authentication
The SPF authentication result and the DKIM authentication result are both important in determining the DMARC authentication result. When ANY of the following conditions are met, an email passes DMARC authentication:
- It has SPF identifier alignment and passes SPF authentication;
- it has DKIM identifier alignment and passes DKIM authentication.
To simplify things, consider the following:
"(SPF authentication pass AND SPF identifier alignment) OR (DMARC authentication pass) (DKIM authentication pass AND DKIM identifier alignment)"
DMARC without DKIM
Now that DKIM is missing, the equation becomes:
"SPF authentication pass AND SPF identifier alignment = DMARC authentication pass"
In other words, the outcome of DMARC authentication is fully determined by the result of SPF authentication and the presence of SPF identifier alignment.